VITAL

It is important for us to realize, just for a short amount of time, that our entire world has changed and we are in this search for normal. We’ve seen event changes, restaurant and business closings, school closings, mandatory absence from the workplace and we’ve adjusted to watching church as to going to church. Life has changed, but we are learning to adapt. I have a good friend with me this morning who has been impacted and his life has had to adapt.  I would like to introduce Dennis Fogle this morning. It’s good to have you here…

We’re going to jump into our teaching and Easter to remember a time of isolation from family and friends. No big Easter church services that we can truly attend yet I think this Easter has created new beginnings for all of us. It’s truly brought us to us in our lives to seeing what exactly is important. You see people focusing on why we have Easter more than it’s simply an event

this past Thursday. Our governor called for a day of prayer asking our Lord for help in this Coronavirus pandemic. Throughout the Bible, we see where God’s people call out for his help. Today we need the Lord’s help. We cry out to God for healing throughout our nation and around the world.

I’ve come to know, though my heart and flesh may fail. There’s an anchor for my soul. I can say, it is well. See Jesus has overcome the grave. Victory is won, He is risen from the dead. And I will rise when he calls my name. No more sorrow, no more pain. I will rise on those wings before my God; fall on my knees and rise. I will rise. I hope today that is where you are. We serve a Risen Lord… 

God gives us a time like this so that so that we can celebrate Palm Sunday, even in the midst of what’s going on. And I hope these words today give you a way word of encouragement, in a way that there is hope. Yes, Palm Sunday looks different. But I tell you what, folks, this Palm Sunday I promise, you will remember. So maybe today you’re you’re at home and you’re you’re able to open up your Bibles. We’re going to go to the book of John. I think John does an incredible job of sharing with us this morning about what Palm Sunday looked like back in the time across Christ…

This morning our person hidden within the story is the disciple, John. He was part of the inner circle along with Peter and James. He was one of the Sons of Thunder because he had zeal and passion and ambition. He wanted to call down the thunder and destroyed the Samaritans, when they refuse to welcome his lord and savior, Jesus to their community. What a guy he must have been. He was passionately devoted to truth.

When John wrote, he emphasized the meanings of the events and the life of Jesus. For example, all four of the Gospels talks about feeding the 5000. But John records Jesus sermon that day of feeding the 5000, calling it the bread of life. There is one major theme that john wants his reader to get, and hear me on this, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and if you commit yourself to Him, He will give you eternal life. Folks, if that doesn’t give you an encouraging word this morning, in the midst of what is going on, I tell you what, grab that verse, grab that commandment of life and just to understand that Jesus is with us every step of the way.

John is also calling himself the beloved. He is the one leaning on Jesus’s chest at the Last Supper. He loves Jesus so much that he wanted to be as close as he could to him. I love that just trying to get that image of what that must have been like on that day…

We know that Joseph is from the town of Arimathea and is a part of the High Council of the Sanhedrin, a group of religious leaders who called for Jesus to be crucified. We know from the Bible that Joseph contested this final decision, but he yet he plays more of a silent role for Jesus. He is now open in the midst of his faith, and we’re going to see that he is called the quiet, the silent, disciple, but we’ll see how those things change in his life.

Today we are looking at a man by the name of Simon of Cyrene. His name is mentioned in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with the most being said in the Gospel of Mark.

There is quite a bit more detail given about Simon of Cyrene in the book of Mark, so it is obviously important for us to know about his story from Mark’s perspective.

Today we’re going to look at a woman who’s hidden in the story, a name that is never given to us. She is Pilot’s wife. That’s all we get as a name for her. Matter of fact, she has given only one verse in the Bible with only 31 words attached to what she says. What would history have looked like had Pilot listened and heeded the words of his wife? 

I have a special guest with us this morning. I want to give a big welcome this morning to Dorothy Garrison. She is here bright-eyed and excited about this morning, but it is early. Yes, it is early. Give us a little bit about who you are, what your life story is about, who you’re married to, and tell us a little bit about your children. And then tell us a little bit about your faith story this morning.

Well, I’m married to Sean Garrison. We have a business here in Oskaloosa, a cleaning business. We have five children. Our lives have totally been rearranged from what it was. Shawn and I have had quite a colorful past. When we both laid down our lives to Christ, we were transformed. I mean, every day we are continually changing. And it’s exciting. Every morning I get up and I’m just like, how’s God gonna change me today? Who can I touch today? Yes. So that’s exciting.

We’ll be talking the next five weeks looking at five hidden lives hidden in the story of Easter. These people who play a role in the Easter story, they don’t have much ink written about them. We’ll talk this week about the centurion who pierced the Christ side while he was on the cross and the life of pilots wife whose name is hidden in Israel.

I’m really looking forward to walking with you as we explore the hidden lives in Jesus’ story. Even today, in the 21st century, there are lives that seem to be hidden who follow Christ and don’t have the limelight story. They are every bit as important.

It is always important to step back and evaluate your marriage as a place in which we keep it fresh and alive. All too often we allow complacency to enter our marriage life and we go through phases where we say “I love you” without truly showing love to one another. Showing what our love means through our actions. It can be simple words that we say but is their action, their passion, that is the drive behind the words that matter. Otherwise, we’re just simply going through the motions of what we call marriage.

What is love? When you ask someone that question everyone will give you a little bit of their own slant or a little bit of their own take of the opinion of what love is. In our culture, love looks different depending on the situation. For instance, the love between a parent and a child.

A different type of love is between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, is all about choice and we choose to be loved and love that person. For me, loving my wife is that I want to be with her and spend time with her and that we do a dance and life together. As we go through life.

Oftentimes times we say that we love our spouse, but do you like them? And that’s a different subject that I think that we could go into great detail. But, I think having the Five Love Languages not only helps us to love our spouse, but it also helps us to like our spouse.

Have you ever been around older people who are still in love with each other? You can see the twinkle in their eye, they sit close to together at a ball game or during the church, they hold hands and even every now and then you’ll catch a kiss. If you watch really closely, it just shows that love and how some of those people have experienced love and marriage for as long as 50 or  more years. I love watching older people that are still in love and how it shows us that love can be kindled throughout a lifetime in marriage.