I bet you have heard this saying before.  “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

 This statement might cause you to laugh, but the truth behind the statement is, the people a person calls a friend are not supposed to act like enemies.  In other words, your friends are supposed to help you, assist you, walk with you in life.  They know you, they know what is important to you, they know what you cherish, they know what you is your desire, they know what you need to accomplish your goals.  They speak, they act, they serve in a way that helps you to become who they know you really want to be.

This morning we hear Jesus call his disciples friends, why because they know what the master desires.  Jesus says that they know everything that he/Jesus has heard from his Father.  Jesus reminds them that he has shared with his disciples everything that is in his heart and on his mind.  Jesus has opened up his life to them in a way in which he has not kept anything hidden from them.  And remember it is Jesus who calls his disciples friends not his disciples calling him their friend.  Yes, it is true Jesus was their friend, but the most common title given to Jesus by the disciples was either Teacher (Rabbi) or Lord.  

 But Jesus calls them friends, because they have seen him, they know him, Jesus is entrusting to them what he has made know to them.  Because they are his friends they have in mind or at least will come to the point where all they have in mind are the things of Jesus, not their own desires or goals, but what Jesus has entrusted to them to accomplish what he had purposed for them from the beginning.

This is so important, because the mistake that Christians often make, that we tend to make is considering Jesus to be our friend without first understanding him as Teacher and Lord.  We try to make Jesus our friend without gaining his wisdom and authority over our lives.  In others words, it like we are trying to get what we want out of Jesus without considering what is best for him and what will accomplish his purposes.

Jesus, says, “as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love” 

When you discover a relationship with a person that you care greatly about it changes the way you think, it changes the way you feel, it changes the things you value, it changes the things that occupy your mind, body, and soul.  

 When you discover a relationship with a person that you know loves you, you find peace and hope for each new day.  You find joy in being together and anticipation of the times to come.  

You grow and become more and more like the person who you know for certain loves you.

In chapter 13-16 of the Gospel John, John records Jesus making reference to Abiding in him; no less than 21 times.  

Abiding in Jesus.  In our text this morning, John tells us this is like a grape vine that grows and spreads across a trellis, all is supported by a single vine that grows deep into the ground.  The leaves, the branches, the fruit, none of it can happen if it is not directly connected to vine.  And yet because it is connected to the vine: nourishment, strength, beauty, and fruit will be found on it.  In places where grape vines thrive many of the vines actually look more like trees because of how strong the vine has become.  But everything above the vine only exists because its connection to the vine itself.

The branches, the leaves, the fruit they grow and from a distance you see the grape vine and the beauty grabs your attention, you begin to have hope as you approach the vine and soon you become filled with life as you taste and see how good and pleasing the fruit of the vine actually is.  

Children are a beautiful thing.  One of the most interesting things about becoming a parent is how much our children reflect us as parents.   We have four children, and I did not think it would be possible for this to hold true with four different people four different personalities that each of our children have.  But it is.  

 It is amazing how our children have all the best qualities of Susan and me.  We often laugh and enjoy seeing these parts of their lives being lived out.   And as much as we enjoy seeing this in them, we have also become ever so aware that each of our children are also “blessed” with the worst parts of who Susan and I are as well.  And trust me, these characteristics do not make us laugh in the same way nor are they as enjoyable as the others to watch.  

But it is true.  In each of our children, we can see the best and worst parts of who we are. It truly is like looking into a mirror.  

Throughout the scriptures we see the effects of an unaware people living for themselves doing what they think is best without regard for what God has spoken.  We read about people living as though they know more than God or that God could not possibly mean what he has said.  We see people who refuse to believe and so they are shaped more by the people around them or the world around them than they are shaped by God’s design and desire for them.

Every time we see this happening, the bad of humanity gets fed.  Or we might more accurately say the evil in humanity gets fed and bad things start to happen.  

 Fortunately, God’s love is greater than man’s disregard for God.  God makes a way when there seems to be no way.  Praise be to God that He invites people back into a right relationship with Him.  Thanks be to God that He can reshape our lives to His image no matter how old or hard we have tried to shape ourselves or allowed the world to shape us.

We see this throughout the Old Testament, and we see it very clearly in today’s readings.

10  The Second Song of Isaiah Quaerite Dominum

Isaiah 55:6‑11

Seek the Lord while he wills to be found; call upon him when he draws near.  Let the wicked forsake their ways and the evil ones their thoughts; And let them turn to the Lord, and he will have compassion, and to our God, for he will richly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth,    so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  For as rain and snow fall from the heavens and return not again, but water the earth, Bringing forth life and giving growth, seed for sowing and bread for eating, So is my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not return to me empty; But it will accomplish that which I have purposed, and prosper in that for which I sent it.

 Let us not be deceived little children.  Our thoughts are not wiser than God’s, our ways are not holier or higher than God’s.  God has always made a way for us to be reconciled to Him, to be redeemed by Him so that we can be who He has designed and desires for us to be.  That we would reflect the His glory because we are His child.  Therefore repent and turn to God that your sins may be wiped out forever, Amen.

Good Morning to you and most definitely, Happy Easter to you all!  I hope your morning has brought you here ready to see, expecting to hear, and willing to be embraced by Jesus.  And if not, I pray that by the time you leave here today you know that this is the invitation that God has given to you today.

This Jesus invites you to encounter him this Easter morning, through out this Easter season, and into every day of the rest of your life.  Will you come and see?  Will you come and kneel at his feet?  Will you bring whatever anxieties fill your heart, whatever frustrations control your mind, whatever confusion directs your steps and ask the gardener of your soul to touch, heal, and restore you to what God has designed and desired for you to be.  

This is the work of Christ on the cross, and those who have been on this journey know it well, and those who may be hearing about for the first time or in a new way today.  We who know this walk with Christ to the Cross long for you to join us in knowing just how great and glorious our God is and how deep His love is for you in Jesus. 

There is always an empty egg we can hold, but the King of kings and Lord of lord invites us to be held by his love in a way that changes the orientation of our lives forever.

Would you kneel with me for a moment and consider all that you have seen, all that you and heard, and would you answer are you willing to be embraced by Jesus?

The Cross has said it all 

In other words, God told the people of Israel through Moses:

I Am the Lord

I will free you from the burdens

I will deliver you from slavery

I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgement

I will take you as my people

I will be your God

I will bring you into the Land I swore to Abraham

I will give it to you

Because, I AM the LORD.

I want to ask you to travel back to a place with me.  A place where we have been slaves for multiple generations for what could be up to 400 years.  I place where generation after generation has not known freedom.  A place where we have only known the fear of oppression, the pain of bondage, the doubt of our own identity.

 We step into this place and we get a glimpse of what life was like when Moses comes onto the scene.

Imagine the people of Israel.  They had been slaves so long that thy no longer knew what it was like to be free.  Moses shows up after being gone for 40 years and what you remember of this this man is a bit of a checked past. You are not sure whose side he is really on.  But Moses tells you that has been sent by God to deliver you.

In Exodus 6:9 the scripture tells us that Moses told the people these amazing words, but the people would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.

In other words, God told the people of Israel through Moses:

I Am the Lord

I will free you from the burdens

I will deliver you from slavery

I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgement

I will take you as my people

I will be your God

I will bring you into the Land I swore to Abraham

I will give it to you

Because, I AM the LORD.

Moses told the people these amazing promises of God, but the people would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.

They could not even see the hope that God had for them.  They were sorely crushed in bitter oppression.

Think about all the grace that God has poured out to you.  Not just theoretically, but specifically in all the times you have received the Sacraments of the Church, most commonly in the bread and the wine.  A Sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace.  

 Think about all the grace that God has poured out to you even in just this one way.  

What do you suppose a life that has received that much grace would look like? 

And you get excited about this?  Tell me, why?