​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday, April 25, 2021)
Rev. Dr. Mouris A. Yousef, Pastor
 
“The Forty Days before Ascension!”
Acts 1:1-5

I have always been fascinated by and curious about the forty days between Christ’s resurrection and His ascension to heaven.  What was Jesus doing during these forty days?  What did Jesus talk about?  Did he talk about the weather, sports, the latest gossip from Rome?  What did He teach His disciples?  Did He emphasize certain things during this forty-day period?
 
You may be interested to know that Acts 1:3 is the only place that tells us that the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension was precisely 40 days.  For 33 years Jesus of Nazareth has made the earth His home.  Now the time draws near to leave.  We’re beyond the cross, past the suffering, the torture, the mocking, and even beyond the resurrection.  We’re in that mysterious forty-day period that we would like to know more about.
 
In order to get a glimpse of what Jesus did during these forty days, we will be turning to Luke 1:1-3, a key Scripture passage that sheds some light on the time between resurrection and ascension.  As you know, Luke wrote two books in the New Testament: the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.  Luke addresses both books to unidentified reader called “Theophilus.”  “Theophilus θεόφιλος” is a Greek name that means “friend of God,” or “beloved of God.”  This could easily represent the actual name of an individual or perhaps referring to the Christian community as a community of those who have been loved by God.
 
During the forty-day period between Christ’s resurrection and ascension, Luke tells us Christ no longer speaks to thousands but now to only a few.  To them is entrusted the responsibility to take the message around the world. To them is given the Gospel–the good news–the best news in history.  Soon enough the incredible burden will fall on their shoulders alone.  If they fail, the Christian movement will disappear before it ever begins.  In human terms the future of the gospel is in their hands.
 
During the 40 days between the resurrection and His ascension into heaven, Jesus accomplished two important goals: He proved that he was alive.  He prepared them for the future.  We may sum the lessons from those days in two simple statements.
 
First: Jesus Christ is Really AliveLuke wrote to Theophilus these words in Acts 1:1-3, “1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” 
After his suffering Jesus presented himself alive to His disciples by many convincing proofs.  The phrase “convincing proofs” comes from a Greek word found only in Acts 1:3. This word means to present a case so logically compelling that it may be considered as completely proved. In a court of law this word referred to an argument so overwhelming that no other conclusion could possibly be considered.
 
What Luke is saying here is that the proof of the resurrection is certain and sure, unquestioned and beyond any doubt.  It is testimony that could stand up in any court of law–Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead.  I think we sometimes forget what an astounding claim this is. Our familiarity with the New Testament has dulled our senses to the enormity of what we believe.
 
All that we believe is wrapped up in the empty tomb.  In the words of Scottish New Testament scholar, William Barclay: “Jesus is still alive.  He is not the one who was; he is the one who is.”  Death is not the end.  Death doesn’t have the final word.  We will live beyond the grave.
 
Second: God’s Kingdom Must Be our Highest PriorityActs 1:3 tells us, “After his suffering Jesus presented himself alive to his disciples by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”  “The kingdom of God” was the topic closest to Christ’s heart.  In the gospels, Jesus referred to the kingdom in one way or another about eighty times.  It was clearly the central theme of His teaching.   
With the coming of Christ, the kingdom of God came near because the King had come from heaven to the earth. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Jesus preached in Matthew 4:17.  Later in Luke 17:21, Jesus remarked that the kingdom of God is in your midst.
 
God’s kingdom is God’s rule over our lives; it’s a spiritual kingdom therefore it has no physical boundaries.  It includes people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.  The kingdom of God has come, and it keeps coming.  It’s the here and now but the not yet.  That’s why we pray “Your kingdom come.”  The kingdom comes each time we submit our hearts to the will of God. No wonder that Jesus encourages us in Matthew 6:33 to “seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
 
What does it mean to “seek God’s kingdom?”  To put it in simple terms, we all live in the kingdom of this world.  The “world” in this sense refers to the organized system that leaves God out.  Ever since the Fall, all of us have lived in a spiritually hostile environment where the values of the Bible are constantly at odds with the values of society at large.  And things aren’t getting better, they’re getting worse.
 
Seeking God’s kingdom means consciously rejecting the ways of the world and making room for God’s values in our lives.  It means choosing to follow in the steps of Jesus even when those steps lead to a cross.  It means using our resources to help others and grow God’s kingdom instead of storing up silver and gold.  It means living as if heaven is the goal of life—not a big salary and a happy retirement.  In short, seeking God’s kingdom means putting God first in everything.  Friends, as we remember these forty days between Christ’s resurrection and his ascension, let me ask you: Is Christ alive in us?  Is God’s kingdom our highest priority?  May God help us to be so.  Amen. 

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday, April 11, 2021)
Rev. Dr. Mouris A. Yousef, Pastor
 
“A New Position, A New Reality, A New Focus!”
Psalm 119:33-37; Colossians 3:1-4
 
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the center of everything that we believe as Christians.  Without the sacrificial death of Jesus and His victorious resurrection, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins.  In his defense of the resurrection, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”  In this single event, Christ's life, ministry, and mission were validated.
 
The resurrection has always been so central to the Christian faith.  Therefore, Easter should not be understood as an annual celebration, rather, the church is supposed to remember and celebrate Christ’s resurrection every single week.  That’s why the Body of Christ, the church, gets together every Sunday.  That weekly gathering is meant to remind us that we are a resurrection people.
 
Now the important question is: what does it mean to live as a resurrection people?  What does it mean to be a resurrection people?  I believe Easter is a two-sided story.  It’s true that Easter is about Christ’s resurrection from the dead, but at the same time, it’s our resurrection too.  Christ had been raised and we also were raised with Him.  It’s a new position, a new reality, and a new focus.
 
Out of this new position, new reality, and new focus, the apostle Paul draws at least two important implications in Colossians chapter 3.  So on this Second Sunday of Easter, I would like to underscore two ways our lives should reflect the resurrection of Christ.
 
First: Seeking the Things that are Above
Writing to the believers in Colossi, Paul says, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”  For Paul, the resurrection was a turning point.  It was a turning point to the disciples of Jesus, and it should be to us.  Everything flows from this new reality.  Since we have already been “raised up with Christ, we are to seek the things that are above.  Paul uses the Greek word, “συνηγέρθητε” which literally means, “you’ve been co-resurrected; to raise together; to raise along with.”
 
The compass of our lives should point toward heaven.  So when we make decisions, major or minor, we should ask ourselves: do these things have eternal value?  Do they bring us closer to God?  Do they honor God?  Do they reflect our love to Christ?  Is God pleased with them?  In a culture that seems to be seeking everything but God, Christ’s followers are to seek the things of God.
 
What we seek speaks volumes about who we truly are.  The things that we pursue and chase after reveal our true identity.  No wonder that Jesus called His followers in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  In Psalm 119:10 David says, “I seek you with all my heart.”  What are we seeking?  What are we striving for?  What is our passion in life?  What is the deep desire of your heart?  Seeking the things that are above will regulate the rhythm of our lives.
 
Second: Setting our Minds on Things that are Above
Paul gives us another important implication of a life that has been raised with Christ.  In Colossians 3:2 Paul says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  This is an intentional and deliberate process.  By default, we are drawn toward the things of this world.  It’s only by God’s grace that we can have our minds set on things that are above.
 
Martin Luther, the 16th century German Protestant Reformer, once challenged one of his students by saying, “I’ll get you a new horse and carriage (wagon) if you can pray the Lord’s Prayer and concentrate on every phrase without losing your train of thought.”  “No problem,” the young man said.  After he had prayed the prayer, he, however, confessed to Martin Luther, “all I could think about was the horse and carriage (wagon).”  As much as he tried to concentrate and focus on the Lord’s Prayer, his mind was drawn elsewhere.  Setting our minds and hearts on things above is a deliberate and intentional focusing of our hearts and thoughts on what really matters.
 
Friends, this “seeking” and “setting” are not one-time actions.  They are not occasional acts, but they are continual and ongoing characteristics of the Christian life.  We are distracted people who definitely live in a very distracted culture.  That’s why I am saying these are continual marks of our faith journey.  We are prone to wonder, then God reminds us of our new position, our new reality, and our new focus. 
 
The resurrection of Christ calls Christ’s followers to a radical change.  Later in Colossians 3:9-10 Paul expressed the radical change by saying, “you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”  Last Sunday, we shouted our “Alleluias” as a response to the good news of Christ’s resurrection.  Christ is no longer physically present in our world.  It’s our responsibility to live a life worthy of our calling.  May the Lord turn our hearts to His decrees and not to selfish gain.  May the Lord turn our eyes from looking at vanities and give us life in His ways.  It’s our calling now to live as resurrection people.  In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Meditation Notes (Easter Sunday 11:00 a.m. ~ 04.04.2021)
Rev. Dr. Mouris Yousef, Pastor
 
“The Shortest Easter Sermon Ever!”
John 20:11-18
 
If you got excited this morning when you saw the worship bulletin and read my sermon title, “The Shortest Easter Sermon Ever”, I am sorry if I disappointed you today.  I didn’t mean that my sermon today will be the shortest Easter sermon you’ve ever heard, actually, I was refereeing to Mary Magdalene’s Easter sermon not mine. 
 
John tells us that after Mary Magdalene met with Jesus outside of the garden tomb, she was commissioned by the risen Christ to take the good news of Christ’s resurrection to the discouraged and confused disciples back in Galilee. In John 20:18, John tells us, “Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.”  
 
Mary Magdalene’s Easter sermon was a single phrase; only 5 words long: “I have seen the Lord.”  That’s it.  While my Easter Meditation this morning is not as short as Mary’s, but I promise to be brief and right to the point.  So I invite you now to rethink the Easter story with me.  What’s at the heart of the glorious news of Christ’s resurrection?  Two short observations:
 
First: Easter is More about Tomorrow than it is about Yesterday
I think one of our main problems as human beings is that sometimes we get so caught in what has been, that we miss the gifts right before us.  We get stuck on the past and look back more than forward.  But Easter’s grand gesture turns us to new life and a future fully alive.
 
The disciples of Jesus couldn’t recognize the risen Lord on that first Easter Sunday because their brains couldn’t get past the events of Good Friday.  Luke tells us in chapter 24 the story of two disciples of Christ who were so discouraged, upset and disappointed and they decided to go back to their hometown, Emmaus, about 7 miles from Jerusalem.  They were talking with each other about everything that had happened and as they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; but they they didn’t recognizing Him.
 
Why?  Why did they fail to recognize the risen Lord immediately?  I truly believe the disciples of Emmaus failed to recognize Jesus because they were still living in the past.  Luke seems to be underscoring how on the very day that the heavens were celebrating, these two disciples were walking away with regret, disappointment, and sorrow.
 
This is not the only time in the New Testament that the disciples did not immediately recognize the resurrected Jesus.  John chapter 20 records for us that Mary Magdalene was weeping at the grave of Jesus when He appeared and asked her what was wrong.  Still in the depths of her grief she mistook Jesus for the gardener.  But then Jesus spoke her name, “Mary!”  It was a mystical moment of recognition and revelation.  Easter is more about tomorrow than it is about yesterday.
 
Second: Easter is about God’s Power Working behind the Scenes
One of our frustrations and disappointments as followers of Jesus is that we don’t always understand how God works in the world and in our lives to accomplish His purposes.  For the disciples of Jesus, the cross and the death of their Lord was a no-no.  They just couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that the Messiah will be crucified.  On one occasion, Peter actually rebuked Jesus for saying that.  Listen to these words from Matthew 16:21-22, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.  Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
 
The Prophet Isaiah reminds us that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts.  The resurrection of Jesus is a reminder that God is not silent.  He is not idle.  God always works even during those times when we fail to see Him working.  He is not absent.  He is always present.
 
So when you find yourself facing a situation where God seems absent and silent, remember that God is working behind the scenes.  Charles Spurgeon once said, “When we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”  We may be puzzled by our circumstances, but God has it all figured out.  The disciples thought the story of Jesus is over.  But Easter reminds us that there is more to the story.  God is still working.
 
Therefore, my friends, stand firm in your faith.  Rest in God while He is working behind the scenes.  Remain confident in the fact that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.  God is all powerful, all knowing and ever present.  The Lord is risen.  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Meditation Notes (Easter Sunday 9:00 a.m. ~ 04.04.2021)
Rev. Dr. Mouris Yousef, Pastor
 
“Meet Me in Galilee!”
Matthew 28:1-10
 
According to Matthew’s account, after the women left the empty tomb on that first Easter Sunday, Matthew says, “suddenly, Jesus met them, and He said to them, “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
 
Galilee.  Why Galilee?  Of all the places Jesus could have gone ~ why Galilee?  I mean, He is the Risen Christ after all.  He could go anywhere He wanted.  In fact, John tells us on the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them.  If he had such control over His body that He could simply show up even when the doors are locked, don’t you think Jesus could go anywhere?   Why Galilee?    
 
You would think Jesus would have wanted to head straight back to Jerusalem and show those folks over there a thing or two.  Can’t you just see it?  Jesus walks straight to the home of the high priest, knocks on the front door and says, “Hello, Caiaphas, want to try again?”  Don’t you think Jesus might want to have another meeting with Pilate?  “Hey Gov, now do you want to discuss the subject of truth?”  That’s what Jesus could have done.  That’s what we would have done, isn’t it?  Our script would have been completely different.
 
Why Galilee?  In my Easter Meditation for this service, I will very briefly offer two reason why Jesus chose Galilee.
 
First: Jesus was Welcomed and well Received in Galilee
For the most part, Jesus was welcomed, and His message was well received in Galilee more than anywhere else.  Except for a very few incidents, the people of Galilee loved Rabbi Yahshua.  They loved Jesus of Nazareth.  They followed Him.  They listened to His teaching.  They saw the love of Jesus transforming their lives and giving them new hope.  In Jerusalem, however, Jesus faced too much opposition and rejection from both religious and political leaders.
 
In Galilee, He spoke their language, shared their country twang, knew their customs, and was comfortable.  At least, if Jesus could be comfortable anywhere, He could be comfortable in Galilee.  Friends, the lesson is simple: it’s when you and I make a room for Christ in our lives that the glorious news of His resurrection, this new life, encounters us.
 
Second: It all Started in Galilee
It all started in Galilee.  I like how the gospel of Mark introduces the Jesus story.  Mark 1:1&14-15, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.   After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
 
Jesus Himself was from Nazareth in Galilee.  All His disciples were Galileans.  Galilee witnessed the birth of Christ’s ministry.  No wonder that Jesus wanted to wrap up His ministry also in Galilee.  “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  Why is this important to us?
 
I think it’s extremely important.  Basically, Jesus was saying to the disciples now you’ve read the story, go back and re-read it again... this time, do so with resurrection eyes.  When you visit those places where Jesus fed the multitudes, healed the leper, brought the dead back to life, see it all, sense it all, feel it all through resurrection eyes.  Jesus wanted the disciples to have a deeper understanding of what it means to be kingdom people.  Galilee brings a sense of recognition and understanding.  Jesus will be waiting for them in Galilee.  Galilee will bring understanding.  Galilee will offer new life.
   
The only way the story of Jesus can be told is by going back and do it all over again, this time through resurrection eyes.  So here we are again, on Easter morning, back with Jesus in Galilee where it all started.
 
In other words, pretend as if this were the very first day of your journey with Christ.  You’ve just affirmed Him as Lord and Savior over your life, your feet are in the blocks, and the starter’s gun is about to go off.  You’re ready to run the race of faith and follow after your Risen Lord.  Now, what are you going to do?  What kind of life you will be living?  It is an invitation to see everything in life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  
 
If you do that – even if you will try to do it – you will find yourself in Galilee.  Galilee is a good place to be.  Why?  Because Jesus is there.  The Risen Christ meets us there and will help us to see our world through Easter.  It’s an invitation to go back to the roots of our faith.  It’s an invitation to go back to re-read the story of Jesus of Nazareth and see what it means for us today.  The Lord is risen.  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!  Amen.