The Easter Paradox

from luke the 23rd chapter it's the calvary story luke 23 and beginning with verse 33 and when they were come to the place which is called calvary there they crucified him and the male factors which simply meant a doer of evil a wrongdoer one of them on the right hand the other on his left one of those men the first thief which were hanged railed on jesus saying if you are the christ save yourself and save us but there's a contrast in verse 40 but the other the second thief answered and rebuked him saying do you not fear god seeing that you are in the same condemnation as the one you're railing against and 41 he adds we are receiving this justly we're getting justice here for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this man has done nothing amiss or nothing wrong what love what love and he said unto jesus lord remember me when you come into your kingdom and jesus answers him and says verily i say unto you today you shall be with me in paradise i want to preach today the easter paradox the easter paradox thank god for his great love toward this world which was very unlovable and we are a part of that you may be seated historians and archaeologists tell us that that section of land called golgotha where jesus was crucified was actually a land fill a trash duck and a boneyard so not only was there just refuse and garbage that was put there by the city dwellers but also the bones of those who had been crucified like jesus so their rotting flesh was there if you've ever been to a landfill up close flies buzzing around a wrong smell in the air rotting stinking trash and in this case flesh golgotha was probably one of the most primitive and barbaric landfills possible because when the romans were crucifying criminals often there would be nobody around that would want to claim that body in other words they didn't want anything to do or didn't want to be associated or have their family associated with one who had been a criminal and so they would peel the bodies from the beans tossed the corpses into this garbage heap of golgotha and of course there was wild animals and wild dogs that were there so animals insects worms smell stench that's gauguatha the place where jesus was crucified on that cross above that trash heap jesus spoke the easter paradox to that thief verse 43 is the summary of the paradox when jesus said to this thief today you are going to be with me in paradise a paradox is something that is seemingly so absurd so illogical so senseless it's a contradictory statement or proposition but when you investigate that paradoxical statement it can be explained and it is proven to be well founded and true case in point to a thief hanging above a trash heap and a garbage dump paradise is promised because of jesus death his burial and resurrection we can go from a life that may have looked like a landfill of trash and debris and unwanted filth to a new life here and now and to a paradise of eternity it seems absurd it seems illogical that somebody like a thief or somebody like us could have such a ruined life when we even crucify ourselves feeling like we have done so much and that we have are just hopeless and helpless it seems illogical that we would hear the words today paradise is your destiny illogical out of this world i would agree it is out of this world truth absolutely well founded and true because heaven and earth may pass away but this word will never pass away

brother jesse where you at jess stand for just a moment brother jesse he told me a little bit earlier about the testimony of his life he just remained standing for just a moment yes he told me a little bit about the testimony of his life before he came to his experience with god and there was brokenness in his life there was brokenness in relationships that he had in his life and he told me about the addiction to opioid drugs that had grasped his life he lost a friend he felt very hopeless and helpless he felt like his life was nothing more than a landfill a trash dump sin and some of his own actions had filled his life in that way but one day and somebody somewhere could have been praying with him and for him but to shorten the testimony i'll just tell you what he told me he said one day there was a bible there and he said i was suffering through withdrawal symptoms right there i tell you there's nothing that the delivering power of god cannot do i want to stop and if you are bound today there is a deliverer there is a god of love he loves you he is just not about busting change he will do that but the reason he breaks that addiction is because he loves you jesse said all i did he said i reached down for that bible he said bishop i did not even open it up all i did was hug it and the withdrawal symptoms immediately left there is power that's why i'm preaching this book that he hugged because jesus is saying there's a paradise in your destiny i don't care how trashy hear me somebody i don't care how trashy your life is god is the god of the easter paradox woo hallelujah i just feel like getting a witness here i just feel like getting a witness how many know that without him you'd be helpless we ought to lift both hands we ought to wave them just a little bit right here i'm not trying to get activity i'm trying to get a thankfulness somebody whose life is emotionally and spiritually and maybe even physically a mess today but there is hope because there is paradise in your destiny he said whosoever will i'm laying this blanket of message over this entire congregation i don't have to qualify it at all i don't have to say well this is for this section or that person or this person this is for everybody this is for somebody agree with me right there this is for everybody there is always hope hear me hear me there is always hope jesus is always near as close as he was to that man hanging beside him you can go from pathetic to paradise the world it doesn't look like that to the natural vision you can go from sin to salvation from hell to heaven from ruin to rapture and from garbage to glory you can do it by the power of his promise

the cross was the destiny of jesus it was going to be the cross for him at any cost i mean the cross's death was enough but when i started researching for this message and i realized what that piece of ground was i wanted to say jesus you didn't belong there you didn't belong at a garbage you didn't belong walking or hanging above trash and garbage and rotting flesh and decaying flesh but the cross he died so you could be forgiven today he died so you and i could be loved today it was the reason for his coming it was the culmination and the capstone of his ministry jesus talked to that thief he was willing to help either one of them one accepted it jesus just wasn't drawn to lives that were perfectly put together let me rephrase that actually those kind of people never existed perfectly put together he came he was drawn here's here's what he said they that are whole do not need a physician those that think they're whole they won't receive the help of a physician but they that are sick i came not to call the righteous i'm glad the lord is here today i'm glad he blesses us after we walk in righteousness but i'm going to tell you if we're righteous today we are not the only ones he came to bless and touch we are not the only ones he wants to touch with his spirit somebody watching us online in your car or at home you are not excluded you are not disqualified you are included by that easter paradox he said i didn't come to call the righteous i came to call the sinners to repentance jesus was drawn to people whose lives weren't all together now god wants to put it all together the church wants to help and assist the lord but he's not drawn to people whose lives have it all together people just like us people like your friend or your family member that you've been praying for that you've been fasting for that you're giving a bible study to he's for them nobody hear me today nobody is a lost cause i'm gonna ask you to say that with me would you nobody is a lost cause would you say it again nobody is a lost cause now i know it's one thing to say it it's another thing to believe it and live it i want to believe it i want to live it there is nobody outside of the love of god this morning in his last hour

in his last hours in life before this crucifixion he was in close proximity to two really messed up people if you've got some final time to live it seems like you'd want to calculate it out where you'd get with folks that weren't too messed up messed up two common criminals evildoers and in that place where people threw out the unwanted jesus came to claim the unwanted this identification with concern and love for lives lives that seem so irretrievable one of the messages from the lord today is what you just said no one is a lost cause no situation is a lost cause this was just characteristic of jesus doing what he did on that cross in his final hours close to those who were perhaps unwanted close to those who would not people normally would not be want to identify with but jesus was offering hope when you read in the scripture luke chapter 15 and verse 1 then drew near unto him this is what his message this is what his mission how it had an impact then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him sinners came to hear jesus teaching preaching publicans they wouldn't have come if he would have been condemned they wouldn't have come if he would have been judgmental did he stand for righteousness did he expect righteousness could he live for righteousness oh yes oh yes he did none of those things can be traded or bartered but his message was a message of hope his message was a message of the paradise on top of a trash heap others that were considered hopeless i wouldn't mind if you mark that in your body i would encourage you to mark that in your bible there are people that are hungry there are people like jesse that just want to hug the truth and the word of i'll give you just a little bit more last fall our fall fest sunday is when this family i want the whole i thank god for what his work is being done in this life in these lives in this family hallelujah hallelujah you are not helpless and you are not hopeless thank you folks jesus comes up to where we are no matter how out of sort our life may seem to be one thief on that one side was flinging his insults and hurling taunts and your gestures of love will not always be received and i just feel like i need to say to somebody today don't be that first thing at first don't condemn the mercy that god is trying to send your ways don't criticize the lover of your soul and by that i not only mean jesus but there are people who have jesus in them who love your life and love your retaliation was his only form of self-preservation wounding others had been is his defense mechanism and so he hurls an insult hanging from that cross at jesus my heart is broken today about that first thing i don't know but he went out with his final threats cursing jesus he went out with his final breaths turning aside from the mercy and the goodness of the lord jesus

but that second thief i want us to stop right now i want us to pray i'm gonna back up to that first day i'm gonna ask this church to pray there's been a wonderful spirit of the holy ghost here and i feel the spirit of intercession and burden and sensitivity that is here right now and somehow i feel the stop and ask you to pray for anybody who may have had the words of that first thief not the exact words but had the attitude somebody that hurled back and insulted somebody that seemed to be so hard and rejecting what god was doing and maybe even your offer but i want us all over this house would you pray because it's not too late it wasn't too late for that man it's not too late would you pray please wherever you are those of you online join us in prayer those of you here would you pray would you pray god god i know you already love them i don't have to pray that you start loving him i'm praying that something will soften i'm praying that something will help him to open to your love and your mercy i do not condemn them today lord i pray for them i plead for them i can't do what you did for them lord but i can do something similar i can have your spirit of mercy i can have your spirit of love yes yes yes yes yes nobody you're praying for is too far nobody you're praying for yes the second thief understood the gravity of the moment there is gravity in this moment right here i don't know if he heard jesus teach previously he lived during his time somehow he had connected the dots he understood what jesus was about and so his final recording of words is this poignant plea his last words nine of them nine of them jesus remember me when you come when you come into and through kingdom of your kingdom last words jesus remember me remember me the picture just came in my mind is somebody in an automobile accident and they can feel their life having a way and i'm saying jesus breaths away from death it wasn't some grand prayer wasn't a grand theological statement i don't know how many prayers he prayed before this it may have been a first prayer but he had connected he had connected who jesus was he knew what he was what he was and he knew who and what jesus was jesus and it was a prayer it was a faith jesus is hanging on all you need to do is have faith that god can help you today you hear all those amens people believe that all you have to do today is just that thief he might have had more faith at that point than the disciples and the women who were there women who were there i think he had more faith than i would have had because i'm looking up there and i'm saying jesus is about to die his kingdom is about the doors about the clothes miracles are about to cease and so this looks like it is over it is not over for you sir son it is not over for you but this thief garnered up enough faith enough faith to say i believe there's going to be a kingdom and when you come into that kingdom i believe there's going to be a fulfillment of the beast us disciples are kind of standing over there doing what we do oh my lord is he ever going to get saved again is this answer ever going to come but that one who garnered a faith said i don't know if i'm going to get to see it i want to because i want you to let me into that paradise but jesus i know this you got a kingdom and you're going to enter it and you're going to establish it and when you do i want you to remember me jesus didn't forget or dismissed that beat he met him exactly where he was right on top of that trash this service is full of imperfections imperfect people perfect failures and escapes and we do not glorify them but i do glorify the one who speaks an easter paradox to somebody you may have a mess up life right now but there is a paradise in your future there is a hope in your future

first corinthians chapter one i want you to hug this nurse chapter one and verse 26 for you see your calling he's talking to that corinthian church he says to that church how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble not many that had it all together but in verse 27 he said god chooses people and things that seem foolish to this world why save him lord i'll tell you why save a freddie bradley who's going shopping cards and not that only but you just being here and being faithful and basically serving god by yourself i'll tell you why you get a paradox on easter it's because there's a blessing there's a paradise in your destiny fred and when you came in on that march 9th night in 1995 95 hallelujah that's all right go ahead and weep over and friend the goodness of the lord the good the spirit of the lord was in that service just like it is in this one and he's talking to somebody like he talked to fred that very nice

this church loves fred bradley not many wives not many men and that first night when you came in for the fred there probably wasn't any of us in it said there's gonna be one of the most faithful men of apc up right through 2022 and i hope you lived in 2015. not many there's living proof all over this congregation today i'm gonna only have time to give a few testimonies he said in 1818 he developed some additions and then the crowd that he was hanging with began to put the pressure on pressure on and when they did he started shooting bugs through his veins if anybody would have seen this light back in the mid 70s i want everybody in this family to stand really quick everybody in the right family in the right family your son daughter or you're in my marriage that's right

i think sister regina about how many children she had these are about winning every mother's day gift i don't feel like teasing them at the end of the day i feel like saying thank you lord that there was a paradise god saw a children's director god saw an usher god saw a youth pastor and god saw all these precious lives young people that are standing he saw it he saw it saw it he saw it he looked beyond my phone something happened something happened they were married at a very early age very early bob my only once again told me once he didn't try to shirt out the blame or perhaps that's the way there is nothing impossible there is nobody in the title would somebody connect with that thing right there i believe if somebody will just believe it but something happened if something happened in 1970 1877 bob told me earlier than that earlier he had he had a castle environment at home he said i remember my this young 18 year old 20 year old 21 year old remembered a grandmother and he told me about it again even this very day it still resonates with you and still resonates the lesson said i remember her sitting at that kitchen table if there would have been any right for anybody there's nothing to die