Who is this One that we call
our Savior? We will examine this
question during the Easter season.
I just read in the news this
week that Rosie O’Donnell came out of the closet.
Why is it that those who choose to sin can come out of the closet, but
Christians aren’t supposed to. According
to the world, the sinful flesh, and the devil, we aren’t supposed to go
public, but we can and we are. We
are going public because we serve a public Savior.
He came to the public. Some
accepted Him and followed Him but many others rejected Him and crucified Him. Thanks to our crucified Savior who rose from the dead on the
third day, we have a hope beyond comparison.
According to I Cor. 15, over 500 people saw Him in public.
Jesus’ public ministry began with His baptism in the Jordan River by
John the Baptist.
This
is the inauguration of the King of Kings. (Jesus is the obedient Son) this
is His baptism and the beginning of his public ministry.
Scripture
Text:
Matt 3:13 (KJS) Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John,
to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be
baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto
him, Suffer [it to be so] now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness. Then he suffered him. 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto
him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon
him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased.
1.
Jesus went public.
a.
What does it mean to go public?
To openly confess, live, and be what you are.
The world calls it coming out of the closet because in shame sin at one
time was hid, but now it is openly confessed and practiced.
Jesus came out in the public for all to see.
b.
Jesus went as God had led Him to go.
He went to be baptized because this was what God the Father wanted Him
to do. Baptism symbolized the
beginning of new stage or step in His life.
He was now walking among the people to tell them that the kingdom of
God is here. He preached to them
and told them to repent and walk with Him as He went.
Several would follow Him, but many wouldn’t.
c.
Jesus did so because He wanted to be pleasing to God.
Listen to the passage from the New Living Translation.
He didn’t want to become the most popular or have the most people
following Him. He only wanted the
Father’s will for His life.
Mat. 3:13 Then Jesus went from
Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14But John didn’t want
to baptize him. "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you," he
said, "so why are you coming to me?"
15 But Jesus said, "It must be done,
because we must do everything that is right." So then John baptized
him.
16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of
the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and settling on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, "This
is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him."
d.
Jesus wanted to walk with the Lord.
He went with God. Wherever
He was led He followed the Father’s plans for His life.
He went to the cross to become our sacrifice.
He went to the cross in obedience to God’s plan for His life.
e.
Jesus heard the voice of the Father who was fully pleased with His
life. He went into the public to
show all who the Father truly was.
2.
We can go Public
a.
This could be your inauguration day.
When I was called to preach the gospel In 1983 I was 23 years old.
It was at that time that I decided to go public with the Lord.
The first step was to come out and tell the church.
Upon my coming out they were very supportive and helped me.
They licensed me to preach and gave me opportunities to serve there.
I was asked to become the associate pastor.
Later the Little Union Baptist Church in Calvin, WV asked
me to come back to become their pastor.
One of the
memorable moments of those early years of my public ministry was when I went
into the Coalmines to tell the men with whom I worked of my new calling. I remember their reaction.
They wondered why I wanted to do something like that when many so
called TV preachers of that day were being caught in scandalous behavior.
Many in the world don’t look upon preachers very highly.
I felt going public with the Lord is the only way that I could be who
God had called me to be and enjoy the pleasure of walking with the Lord.
There is no doubt that the Lord of Heaven and Earth calls us all to
become his public servants.
b.
Go Public Come out of the closet and be who you know that God is
calling you to be. Let others
know who you are. Shine the light
for those who are living in the darkness.
Have we gone public? We
can’t walk with the Lord unless we go public.
He is a public God and He wants us to walk with Him in the world.
He wants others to know who He is.
The main way He has of showing the world that He exists is through His
followers who show the light. They
don’t hide their light under a basket but they shine the light.
Mat.
5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it
has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and
trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 You are the light of the world—like
a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. 15Don’t hide your
light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all.
16In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that
everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
c.
God is leading you to become who He created you to be.
In this you will be fully pleasing to God and enjoy the blessing of
walking with God. Enoch walked
with God as with a friend. Jesus
walked and talked with God. So
can we.
d.
What does God want me to do? The
question should be who does God want me to be?
He wants us to be his. He
wants to serve Him publicly. He
wants us to come forward to let everyone know that we are His.
He wants us to serve Him and walk with Him openly.
We have nothing to be ashamed about, but we have a lot to be proud of.
We can be proud of our Lord and Savior who died on the cross beside a
public highway for our sins. He
wants us to be baptized. He wants
us to invite our friends, family, and neighbors to church and to know Him.
He wants us to preach, teach, and tell others about Him.
He wants us to go public. Come
out of the closet. Mat. 10:32-33. Will you today?
Matt
10:32 Whosoever therefore shall
confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in
heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before
my Father which is in heaven.
THE STORY OF EDITH BURNS...
Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio,
Texas. She was the patient of a doctor by the name of Will Phillips.
Dr. Phillips was a gentle doctor who saw patients as people. His favorite
patient was Edith Burns. One morning he went to his office with a
heavy heart and it was because of Edith Burns. When he walked into that waiting
room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap earnestly talking
to a young mother sitting beside her.
Edith Burns had a habit of introducing herself in this way: "Hello, my
name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?" Then she
would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be
saved.
Dr. Phillips walked into that office and there he saw the head nurse,
Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood
pressure. Edith began by saying,"My name is Edith Burns. Do you
believe in Easter?" Beverly said, "Why yes I do."
Edith said, "Well, what do you believe about Easter?" Beverly said,
"Well, it's all about egg hunts, going to church, and dressing up."
Edith kept pressing her about the real
meaning of Easter, and finally led her to a saving knowledge of
Jesus Christ.
Dr. Phillips said, "Beverly, don't call Edith into the office quite
yet. I believe there is another delivery taking place in the
waiting room. After being called back in the doctor's
office, Edith sat down and when she took a look at the
doctor she said, "Dr. Will, why are you so sad? Are you
reading your Bible? Are you praying?" Dr. Phillips said gently,
"Edith, I'm the doctor and you're the patient." With a heavy
heart he said, "Your lab
report came back and it says you have cancer, and Edith, you're not
going to live very long."
Edith said, "Why Will Phillips, shame on you. Why are you so sad?
Do you think God makes mistakes? You have just told me I'm
going to see my precious Lord Jesus, my husband, and my friends. You have just
told me that I am going to celebrate Easter
Forever, and here you are having difficulty giving me my
ticket!"
Dr. Phillips thought to himself, "What a magnificent woman this Edith Burns is!"
Edith
continued coming to Dr. Phillips. Christmas came and the office was
closed through January 3rd. On the day the office opened, Edith did not show
up. Later that afternoon, Edith called Dr. Phillips and said she would
have to be moving her story to the hospital and said,
"Will, I'm very near home, so would you make sure that
they put women in here next to me in my room who need to know about
Easter." Well, they did just that and women began to come in and
share that room with Edith. Many women were saved. Everybody
on that floor from staff to patients were so excited about Edith, that
they started calling her Edith Easter; that is everyone except Phyllis
Cross, the head nurse.
Phyllis made it plain that she wanted nothing to do with Edith because she
was a "religious nut". She had been a nurse in an army hospital. She
had seen it all and heard it all. She was the original G.I. Jane.
She had been married three times, she was hard, cold, and did
everything by the book. One morning the two nurses who were to attend to Edith
were sick. Edith had the flu and Phyllis Cross had to go in
and give her a shot. When she walked in, Edith had a big smile on her
face and said,
"Phyllis, God loves you and I love you, and I have been praying for
you." Phyllis Cross said, "Well, you can quit praying for me,
it won't work. I’m not interested." Edith said, "Well, I will
pray and I have asked God not to let me go home until you come into
the family."
Phyllis Cross said, "Then you will never die because that will never happen,"
and curtly
walked out of the room. Every day Phyllis Cross would walk into the room and
Edith would say, "God loves you Phyllis and I love you, and I'm
praying for you." One day Phyllis Cross said she was literally drawn
to Edith’s room like a magnet would draw iron. She sat down on the
bed and Edith said, "I'm so glad you have come, because God
told me that today is your special day."
Phyllis Cross said, "Edith, you have asked everybody here the question,
‘Do you believe in Easter?' but you have never asked me." Edith
said, "Phyllis, I wanted to many
times, but God told me to wait until you asked, and now that you have
asked."
Edith Burns took her Bible and shared with Phyllis Cross the Easter Story of the
death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Edith said, "Phyllis, do
you believe in
Easter? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is alive and that He wants to
live in your heart?"
Phyllis Cross said, "Oh I want to believe that with all of my heart,
and I do want Jesus in my life." Right there, Phyllis Cross prayed
and invited Jesus Christ into her heart. For the first time Phyllis
Cross did not walk out of a hospital room, she was carried out on
the wings of angels.
Two days later, Phyllis Cross came in and Edith said, "Do you know
what day it is?"
Phyllis Cross said, "Why Edith, it's Good Friday." Edith said,
"Oh, no, for you every day
is Easter. Happy Easter Phyllis!"
Two days later, on Easter Sunday, Phyllis Cross came into work, did some of her
duties and then went down to the flower shop and got some Easter lilies because
she wanted to go up to see Edith and give her some Easter lilies and wish
her a
Happy Easter.
When she walked into Edith's room, Edith was in bed. That big black
Bible was on her lap. Her hands were in that Bible. There was a sweet
smile on her face. When Phyllis Cross went to pick up Edith's hand, she
realized Edith was dead. Her left hand was
on John 14: "In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself,
that where I am, there you may be also."
Her right hand was on Revelation 21:4, " And God will wipe away
every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death nor sorrow,
nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have
passed away."
Phyllis Cross took one look at that dead body, and then lifted her face
toward heaven, and with tears streaming down here cheeks, said, "Happy
Easter, Edith - Happy Easter!"
Phyllis Cross left Edith's body, walked out of the room, and over to a
table where two
student nurses were sitting. She said, "My name is Phyllis Cross.
Do you believe in
Easter?"