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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

Joy Comes In the Morning

Many Christians around this time of the year reflectively remember the cross of Christ and his death.

And they joyously remember his resurrection that took place early that morning in the first day of the week.

And when you think about it in various ways, all 4 of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all of them, they point to the cross and to the empty tube.

And when we believe in his death and resurrection, there is a gift that is given to us, the gift of eternal life.

That means that there is a Savior who has redeemed us from the consequence of sin, which is eternal life or rather eternal death.

And there is a poem that was written in 1855.

And this poem soon became 1 of the all-time favorite hymns.

He wrote, what a friend, what a friend we have in Jesus.

And in that same century, not too many years later, in 1898, a woman by the name of Ellen G.

White, she wrote these words in a book entitled The Desire of Ages, and she wrote, It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ.

And I would add that we would contemplate and behold his face.

It would be good for us to behold the face of the Lamb of God.

She continues, we should take it to point by point and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones.

It's a sermonic theme that has been preached at various times and by various preachers under variations of the title, Friday, Sunday's coming.

And today I want to invite you to let your imagination vividly grasp each scene in a message entitled, Joy Comes in the Morning.

Let's pause as we bow our heads together in prayer once more.

Father in heaven, you've given us a mind You've given us a mind, and you have given us the ability to imagine the scenes as they're recorded in the scriptures.

And we ask, Lord, that as we both contemplate the literal picture that is being painted right before our eyes of the Lamb of God, In the same way, in the same fashion, we pray, Lord, that you would sanctify and bless our imagination As you paint a picture in our minds of the scenes of the closing days of your life, we thank you, Lord.

There are days in our lives and days in our history where when the atheist and the nonbelievers have most of the answers, They seem to have convincing evidence that God is dead.

Believe me, they had their moments in life when days were dark.

And they also cried out to God, Where art thou God?

Elijah explained, I have had enough, Lord!

And Peter, the best of them, Peter wept bitterly.

They had their dark Fridays as we have ours.

However, I want us to contemplate today 2 days.

1 day describes a day of darkness, a day of death.

Another day describes 1 of brightness and victory.

1 was Friday, Crucifixion Friday, Black Friday.

There were 2 days, 2 attitudes as revealed in the Bible.

And Matthew records in chapter 26 verse 37, that Jesus began to be sorrowfully and deeply distressed.

Listen, when was the last time that you prayed with a posture that had you flat on the ground with your face to the dirt?

And he prayed, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as You will.

It was God, man, on his face, on the ground.

Angels looking and weeping, demons, they're looking and laughing.

Friday my Jesus is asking for prayers while weeping.

And he came to his disciples and found them sleeping.

But again he found his 3 friends sleeping.

And after this prayer, this time, his betrayer, the other friend, found him.

The Bible says, and when he was still speaking, behold, Judas, 1 of the 12, with a great multitude, and swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.

They came with lanterns to brighten their dark deeds.

He allowed Satan to steal his joy at night.

Have you ever had to ask a friend why after they betrayed you?

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Joy Comes In the Morning

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