June 14, 2009 - LifeWORDS:

"Mary!" (John 20:16)

Key Focus:

• The focus will be on the resurrected Jesus calling Mary by name and Mary recognizing Jesus' voice when He calls her by name.

This is the story of despair, of losing everything and feeling like nothing you've done matters. What happens in these moments?

• Where is the Lord in times like these? Does He know? Does He care? Do I matter to Him?
• The answer is yes. He knows our name. If we will listen, He calls to us by name!
  • Isn't that what we sang this morning?
    • "He Knows Me Name" -- (see below)
  • Just as Jesus promised in the story of the good shepherd, he calls them by name. It's when he calls Mary by name that she realizes that it is Jesus.
  • In the resurrection stories, we find real people being approached personally by a real Jesus! Notice both the Mary and Thomas stories. Notice the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Mary and the women grab a hold of Jesus' feet. Remember his personal conversation with Peter on the beach. Jesus prepares a meal for his disciples to share lunch. He shows his scar marks to them. He eats with them. This is a real Jesus who knows people personally.
  • Jesus promised he knows us this well:

  Luke 12:5-6   "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

  Psalm 139   God who put his fingerprints on us at conception is with us through every up and down, high and low, beginning and end.

• But can we hear Him call us by name today?
  • Isn't that what we sing?
    • "I Come to the Garden Alone" -- "He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own ..."
  • But does He really speak to us ... you know ... really speak to us? Yes, I believe He does in several ways ...
    • During my sleep -- dreams or visions and His ministry over us during the night

    See my article entitled "While I Sleep"

    • During church -- the words we sing, the Scriptures read, the greeting of a brother or a sister, the point of a sermon or even a random phrase is part of what is promised when we gather together in Jesus' name and His power and His Spirit is present. 1 Peter 4:10
    • During the smackdown we call everyday life: phrases we pick up on the radio, received in a well-timed note, that complement or coincide with our Bible readings
  • But how do I know it's "Him"?
    • Mary missed Jesus' presence at first, didn't she! But when He said her name, something she had heard say many times before because she had been with Him and His disciples so much, then she recognized Him. Wonder how many times we have missed Him?
    • So the only way I know to recognize His voice when He speaks to us is to ...
      • Get into the Gospels and listen to what He says and know it by heart so we can filter out all the false stuff and hear Him when He calls to us! Remember, the goal of the Bible is to not know the Bible, but to help us know God and live with Him present in our lives!
      • Seriously make a point of obeying Jesus and doing what He says:
        • John 14:1-4, 19-23
      • Ask through prayer that the Spirit will help us know the voice of the Lord! (Read through John 14-16 and hear the promises of Jesus to not leave us alone but to send us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to live in us and to guide us into all truth.

• The song, "He Knows My Name" is powerful and crucial to the message as is John 10

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call

• SBA Coming Up
• Remember our Youth on a mission trip to Chicago

• John 20:11-16 tniv

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16    Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Drama, Media, & Connecting Pieces:

• Pre-video for Daybreak: Psalm 22 Video
• Pre-video for Refresh: Stephen Corbett will choose
• Video and/or Drama for Daybreak: Used as the pre-video
• Video Piece for Refresh: Psalm 22 Video
• Drama Piece with Rob Marcelain and Dena Counts in two parts
• LifeWORDS confessional Scripture: Psalm 139:8-10
• Psalm 139 readings spread through the service. Done in bits and pieces -- not necessarily the whole Psalm, but key features of it. (This has basically been ignored in planning so skip.)
  • Focus is on the presence of God in our lives in every stage of our journey
    

Time in the Word Focus:

• The focus will be on Mary recognizing Jesus' voice when He calls her by name after He has been raised from the dead.
  1. He calls us by name: He knows us inside and out. The hairs on our head are numbered. He knows when a sparrow falls. He longs to minister into our lives and touch our hurts personally.
  2. Do I know Him well enough personally to recognize His voice in my life? There are so many other competing voices and so many things I think are not necessarily true. How do I know the voice I hear is Jesus' voice

Daybreak Focus: (See emphasis above! Team Working on Planning Order - John C & George P)

• Scripture reading from John 10:1-4
• Phil will tie into the most emphasized part of the Good Shepherd chapter: the sheep recognize the Shepherd's voice and He calls them by name
• Use the Keller illustration of shepherds separating sheep
• George Pendergrass singing "His Eye is On the Sparrow"
• Use of the Psalm 22 Video?

Refresh Focus: (See emphasis above! Team Working on Planning Order - Wade,Vann, Larry & Ashley)

• Work the two part drama piece into the order
• Use the Psalm 22 Video to emphasize the despair times in life
• Time in the Word broken into two parts