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I've had to speak twice in the last 3 days on the Cross. It's interesting but it seems that these are the toughest talks for me to prepare for. It seems that there has become patterns/formulas for how we present the Gospel during the Easter Season and i was trying to make my talk more interesting and with different perspective, rather than something people have heard many times before!

I was trying to figure out how do i tell my youth group or a group of adults about the cross and resurrection so that it becomes more personal for them? And I was hit with a realization of how you need to start at the beginning before you can fully comprehend the end. What do i mean by this? Well, for example, it's neat that many Churches hand out copies of the Bible to people who don't have their own copy. This is what a Church should do. But what has always made me interested and lately very uncomfortable is that many Churches will hand out copies that consist of the New Testament and Perhaps Psalms... without introducing people to the scriptures of the Old Testament! When you read a book do you start in the middle or the beginning? And perhaps, there's a reason why you start at the beginning so that you don't miss out on very important details that will actually help the story make more sense to you!

Anyways, I decided and felt in my heart that if people don't understand the 3rd chapter of Genesis and fully grasp this in their hearts, they will never FULLY understand the cross! In Genesis 2 we learn that man was made perfect, innocent and in perfect relationship with God. Fast forward to chapter 3 and we read about what has become known to us, as the Fall of Man. We see how a perfect relationship was broken. We see how Man first noticed that he was naked and was ashamed, hiding and began covering up (and we still do today). We learn that sin has entered our world and that things would forever change between God and Man. And we learn of a greater problem = Death!

Now i don't know about you, but this is no minor detail that could be left out of the story. This is the reason for the Cross, this is why Jesus came, why He died and why He rose to life! He came to bring freedom from the wreckage of the fall and reconcile man and God! It's one thing for us to tell people about Jesus, the cross, the resurrection... yet, i wonder how many people ask themselves after hearing about him... but why? I believe that the reason is found in Genesis 3... and if we don't understand our beginnings, we can't truly appreciate the end (John 19:30)!

Perhaps, we assume that people know why Jesus came. But do they really? Do they know about the garden and do they know or believe that ALL of life has become tainted and broken because of an act of betrayal? Perhaps we have to spend some time pondering the garden, before we can actually comprehend and appreciate the NEED for the cross! Anyhow, both sermons went good... I felt like i struggled last night while speaking at a gathering of the Churches in Thompson... but apparently people recieved something through it and God's Word touched their hearts again... The scriptures have a tendency to do this... I must never doubt it and know that it's not about me... These have been my Easter thoughts in the last little while... However, I also learned this past weekend a valuable lesson in how to better communicate a message...

Lesson 1: When talking to a group of youth (predominantly Jr. High)... Make sure that you prounounce and order your sentences well... Make sure that when you want to say "Adam and Eve were working in the Garden" that you say that... and say it just like that...don't say what i ended up saying... "And Adam and Eve were working IT, back in the Garden".... This may cause a lot of laughter, turn a few faces red and cause you to have to laugh along and pause to refocus on the message!

Bless you and have a great day!

// posted by Jordan Mc @ 12:22 PM