[Music] que Rizzo in her column and the signs of the times tells the story of little five-year-old Jeffrey I want to read it to you Jeffrey's baby brother Eric had died after the funeral Jeffrey watched and listened his teary family members drifted in and out of his home he heard all the Bible promises all the sympathetic comments and all the not so comforting cliches he patiently endured the weepy kisses from the aunts and grandmothers and the smothering hugs from the uncles and Grandpa's while Jeffrey's father walked the last of the mourners to their car the boy went in search of his mother he found her lying face down on her bed sobbing with a wisdom worthy of the Ancients he climbed onto that bed snuggled close beside her and said don't worry mommy when Jesus comes he's going to give Eric brand-new batteries pocket choked up just reading this story is that beautiful the boy nailed it that's the gospel truth when Jesus comes back he's gonna give Eric brand new batteries that's the hope that gathers us on this lockdown Sabbath okay this is resurrection Sabbath but we're all locked down can you believe it all dressed up and as I said a moment ago and nowhere to go so here we are together come on let's go let's go to Scripture it's a line I've never quoted in public before you and I have never shared it before Jacqueline just read at a moment ago it's a very short line I'm going to open my Bible to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14 and I'm gonna invite you to find your Bible wherever it is look I need to tell you something I have all the time in the world I'm in no rush we're locked down I can't go anywhere so I'm waiting till you get your Bible just grab that Bible it's gotta be near you you have to see this most people skip over this line in the book of Ephesians no longer we to get it now you got it you got it good good good let's go if he's a chapter 5 verse 14 this is the New International Version all right here we go wake up sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you and that beautiful I love that wake up sleeper there's one line must surely be intended for two groups obvious group number one those who sleep in death in Jesus and not so obvious group number two those who sleep in life when they need now to be wide awake wake up sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you okay let's look at those two groups group number one those who sleep in death in Christ oh I wish we had a YouTube clip clip of this moment oh man of course the camera would have just gone white would have been able to record a millisecond of what transpired that that resurrection morning I'm talking about when Gabriel like a meteor Shh streaks from heaven to earth and the sound of his approach listen I grew up as a kid in Japan living near a US Air Force Base outside of Tokyo have you ever heard a sonic boom I've heard many of them a sonic boom happens when the fighter jet exceeds the speed of sound it sounded 720 miles an hour so when he breaks that sound barrier there is a boom it's just everything shakes Matthew doesn't call it breaking the sound barrier but have you read masters account Matthew's account someday it may be read it tomorrow Matthew 28 it says there was a mighty earthquake it just shook the earth so Gabriel soon he's down and oh my what transpires nest next I want to I want to go I'm gonna draw the veil aside because I'm thinking to myself these words would be perfect to say right there wake up sleeper but desire of Ages actually captures so I'm grabbing my desire raises right here because I can do that when I'm preaching in my own house I can have the books right nearby so I have desire of Ages here pull the veil aside what does the mightiest angel in the universe speak into that tomb okay so this is desire of Ages and I'm gonna begin reading right here it's eight seven seventy nine for those who keep track of such things it's speaking about the Roman guards now Gabriel has just appeared now watch their faces the face they look upon okay so we're talking about the Roman warriors the face they look upon is not the face of more warrior mmm-hmm it is the face of the mightiest of the Lord's host this messenger is he who fills the position from which Satan fell it is he who on the hills of Bethlehem proclaim Christ's birth the earth the earth trembles at his approach the hosts of darkness flee and as he rolls that stone away heaven seems to come down to earth the soldiers see him move removing the stone as he would a pebble gone and they hear him crying I here's what they hear him cry son of God come forth thy father calls thee wake up sleeper and they see Jesus come forth from the grave and they hear him proclaim over the rent Sepulchre I am the resurrection and the life and as he comes forth in majesty and glory the angel hosts bow low and adoration before the Redeemer and they welcomed him with songs of praise off we had that on a clip we'd watch it over and over and over again I am the resurrection in the life they who believe in me though they die yet shall they live wake up sleeper come on I gotta get my Bible open again wake up sleeper eyes from the dead and Christ will shine on you we're talking about the Living resurrected Christ Himself will shine on you you know what if Gabriel could summon forth the son of God where that call was your father calls you I mean how much more is Jesus going to be able to with that mighty shout from that fiery cloud summon our loved ones who sleeping him now I read just a moment ago yeah in desire of Ages you cut that line demons free the host of demons flees as Gabriel approaches good news for you and me there is no demon in Hell who can hold our beloved sleeping loved ones in the icy grip of the enemies and when when Jesus return wake up sleeper rise from the dead that the light of Christ shine upon you don't worry mommy how's that line go don't worry mommy when Jesus comes he's gonna give Eric brand new batteries and by the way not just baby Eric he's gonna give brand new batteries to every man to every woman to every young adult to every teen to every child who sleeps in him wake up sleeper rise from the dead hey listen let's do this we're at home let's just do a little bit of old-fashioned letting our fingers walk through the white pages let's just look up pretext is this these are some of the best of the best resurrection promises why not remind ourselves with them so I'm gonna go to first Corinthians chapter 15 your Bible is already there would you find first Corinthians 15 with me first Corinthians 15 look these are not gonna be surprised X I'm sure you have heard them before but on this resurrection weekend there's a resurrection Sabbath we got to read them again alright so this is first Corinthians 15 I'm dropping down here to verse 51 same writer Ephesians this is Paul listen I tell you a mystery we will not all sleep wake up sleeper we will not all sleep but we will all be changed in a flash in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed to living for the perishable must close it close itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality and when is this is verse 54 now when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality then the saying that is written will come true death has been swallowed up hallelujah in victory wake up sleeper rise from the dead that voice one day will penetrate the ears of everyone sleeping every friend of his sleeping in the dusty beds of this earth wake up sleeper I is another one now we're just looking at some of the greatest of the great hear words you know what I'll just tell you as a pastor every graveside I conduct these words are are always included somewhere in those few moments by that now sacred plot of Earth alright so I'm turning now to first Thessalonians don't have my Bible marked up so I have to find it just like you so I'll give you a second it's not hard to find just keep going beyond 1st Corinthians you were in the 1st Thessalonians so I'm in chapter 4 I want to pick it up here in verse 14 this this this metaphor asleep it just keeps coming back again and again watch this this is 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 14 for we believed that Jesus died and rose again oh do we ever believe it that's what we're celebrating right now what do we sing that glorious hymn in just a moment Christ the Lord is risen today we believe oh yes we do Paul you got it for we believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus when Jesus returns now from Earth on his mission God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him sleep sleep sleep voltage is the most philosophically sound teaching of death anywhere in human consciousness human literature human beliefs death is asleep I'll keep going on verse 15 according to the Lord's will we tell you that we who are still still alive I'm talking about you and me Paul is we who are still alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep there it is again now come the familiar words for the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a loud command with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet call of God Wow and the dead in Christ will rise first after that we who are still alive that would be us now we who are still alive and are left because everybody else is just this this is Cataclysm in the max to the max it's just the the surface of the planet has been obliterated by this glorious return so we who are left there's nobody else left and after that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them that now resurrected dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall be with the Lord forever therefore it courage one another with these words Wow that's the hope that has kept you and me I don't care if you're younger than a college student right now just a teen good for you that's the hope that keeps us going it's kept us going some of us have been on this journey for a few years but it's kept us going there for comfort encourage one another with these words wake up sleeper rise from the dead sixteen Families Karen and I just had the privilege of reading their names sixteen families now cling to this promise that they will be we together with them she'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air I'm gonna share one more text with you because you need to know where this wakeup sleeper comes from and here's a text I predict you have read at all oh you may have if you read The Book of Isaiah but they probably skipped right over it but let's go to let's go take a look at it it was helpful for me to go back and read it oh my this is practically Ephesians 4 it features five rather verse 14 all over again so this is this is Isaiah 26 26 all right so you you finding Isaiah the great gospel prophet this is Isaiah 26 verse 19 you'll recognize you so you get the feel you'll recognize it but your dad will live Lord their bodies will rise that those who dwell in the dust wake up there's that phrase wake up and shout for joy your do is like the dew of the morning Oh God and the earth will give birth to her dead those dusty covers one day we'll be thrown back that's what this Resurrection weekend is all about we affirmed again our hope our belief our trust that even as the money life giver himself the resurrection the life raised back to life you will return and do the same for every friend sleeping waiting for him to come wake up sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you the English poet and writer and lawyer who rather late in life became a pastor good for you John Donne because that's the poet I'm talking about John Donne wrote a collection of sonnets called them Holy sonnets by the way 1621 he was appointed late in life appointed Dean of st. Paul's Cathedral in London alright so he wrote a Sutton that this would be holy son at number 10 and it bears the title death be not proud now my mother lost her kid brother when he was only 18 years old I just been born a few months earlier when uncle Marty died he died far away from his homeland he died in South Africa where my grandparents gramma grandpa Watts were missionaries Marty succumbed to that brain tumor and I've had the joy and that the quite honor of standing on that little rural piece of property called a cemetery on the campus of Helderberg college and gazing down on Uncle Marty's grave anyway I remember as a boy growing up my mother reading a book by an American writer named John Gunther he wrote a book called death be not proud it was them it was the the tender account of his own boys battle with with a brain tumor he also lost his boy to that tumor so anyway I remember seeing my mother read that book a little paperback in Japan she I don't where she got it but she would read it that title death be not proud comes straight from this this holy sonnet number 10 that's the title of the of the Sun and it's the opening it's the opening line in fact what I want to do is share the first cup at the first two lines and then I'll share the last two lines there's only about 15 lines in between but let's just read the first two the first couplet death be not proud those some have called thee mighty and dreadful for thou art not so now go down drop right down to the bottom of the sonnet one sharps one short sleep past we wake eternally and death shall be no more death thou shalt die in a dramatic one short sleep past and we wake eternally and death shall be no more and then the the dramatic addressing of this mortal enemy of the human race death thou shalt die death swallowed up in victory wake-ups sleeper how's that go wake up sleeper rise from the from the dead and Christ will shine on you a blessed and comforting hope it binds our hearts together on this resurrection Sabbath Christ the one who promised because I live you will live also resurrects it that old Latin word you know what it means first simply means he is risen resurrected he is risen and because he is wakeup sleeper so that's group number one but there's also group number two could it be that this wakeup sleeper command is not only an imperative that will awaken the dead but but it is also an imperative that must awaken the living wakeup sleeper do you see what's going on wake up rise from the dead what you talked about Dwight well let's read one more text together you'll get it boy we stuck with Paul except to that little Isaiah line we've stuck with Paul the whole time and this is Paul now this is Romans his magnum opus so to speak Romans chapter 13 drop down these are familiar words probably maybe you've never heard them before well I'm gonna read them in your hearing now Romans chapter 13 verse 11 and do this understanding the present time folks do you understand the present time do I do this understanding the present time the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber nobody's dead here they're alive wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed the night is nearly over the day is almost here hallelujah so let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light let us behave decently as in the daytime not in carousing and drunkenness not in sexual immorality and debauchery not in dissension and jealousy rather clothe your sales with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh wake up sleeper we can't be sleeping now Paul says the night is far spent the old King James puts it the day is at hand yeah Dwight you know what that was written 2,000 years ago bingo you got it yeah but it's today now we're 2,000 years later so how could a night before spend if it was far spent 2,000 years ago and that usually is the push back people who aren't sure or who don't really want to think that the that the return of Jesus is sooner than they think that's their push back you know what it's at that 2,000 years ago we're still here as Peter said was at second Peter chapter 3 in the last days there will arise scoffers who say where's the promise of his coming and all things have continued as they have from the beginning from the days of our fathers look at about slipping into that category because let me tell you something just like that Jesus has come for you so how could that be when you die it was this one of the saddest funerals I've conducted last few months maybe even several years forty-eight years old healthy young father and husband so I've found him the next morning asleep in Jesus for him that was a return of Christ maybe for you sir tomorrow will be the return of Christ wait a minute why am I talking about you maybe for me don't just sniff at the thriving sense of imminence that radiates to the New Testament that is intentional because nobody knows hey can I put it this way nobody knows it will be the next coronavirus victim nobody knows already had 12 deaths here in little Berrien County Michigan now I'm not trying to spook anybody but the point is I don't want you belittling the Scriptures firm call listen tonight is almost gone the day's nearly here wake up sleeper rise from the dead let Christ shine on you that's not just about those who sleep in death that's about those who sleep in life wake up listen I want to I want you to file this you can okay with this I'm gonna want you to file something under the heading you can get there from here I'm just gonna run these by you boom boom boom boom alright you can get there from here okay here's pew research center oh they just came out with a survey this was a released on March 30 so that would be 11 days ago a survey of eleven thousand five hundred and thirty seven US adults conducted during the previous ten days in March I love I love the heading for this so cute and this is from their own page here's the heading to their their report most Americans sake coronavirus outbreak has impacted their lives are you kidding me most Americans what where are we right now I think you could have written the headline every American says the coronavirus has impacted my life but anyway here's the line I want you two to get the virus also has impacted Americans religious behaviors here we go more than half of all US adults 55% say they have prayed for an end to the spread of coronavirus guilty as charged you bet I have and so of you large majorities of Americans who pray daily that would be eighty six percent of Americans and of us Christians seventy three percent of Americans have taken to prayer during the outbreak but so have some who say they seldom or never pray and people who say they do not belong to any religion fifty percent of those who say they never pray are now praying twenty four four percent of those who do not belong to any religion are now praying here's what I want you to tuck away with this one in a time of crisis or calamity people who were otherwise irreligious suddenly start thinking otherwise if the calamities do that remind us of our mortality so I had a radio interview this week with my friend Tom Mazur he's a director of strong tower radio all over the state of Michigan tom was telling me in the interview he was telling me that they've they've got new numbers in now that Bible sales are going through the ceiling why because Americans are running down to Walmart or wherever and they're picking up a Bible my point don't forget it all it takes is one major crisis and suddenly an unreachable country or community is wide open to the thought of eternity all right here's number two this is from the University of Copenhagen this is the name of the researcher Janet's sending Benson her research is titled in crisis we pray religiosity and the kovat 19th pandemic fascinating study you didn't go online and you asked for the study in this paper identify whether the 2020 kovat 19 pandemic has intensified the use of religion as of March 26 it had affected 196 countries political leaders from across the globe urged their populations to pray the Prime Minister of Australia even referred to a sore praying needs to encourage his population to pray so what she's gone what she's done for this research is she's she's checked Google search engines all over the planet every major region of the world and catalog how many times is the word prayer searched for fascinating I find that the intensified searches on prayer and that she has a graph here they go just like this just like this by the end of March I finally intensified searches on prayer during the Cova 19 pandemic global it occurs on all continents Christians Muslims Muslims even Denmark one of the least religious countries in the world see systematic increases in internet searches on prayer prayer intensity rises in countries that have only recently been hit by the pandemic the rise in prayer intensity extends to searches on other religious names such as God Allah and Mohammed so all those searches are going up as well thus the search intensity for prayer doubles for every 80,000 new registered cases so she's kept track of the cases and she says every time the word gets to 80,000 more pain it doubles those seeking what's the point the one who just made with Pew Research in a time of crisis the heart to a secular world a world with religion as tradition but not as a way of life perhaps certainly in the secular West the heart blows open all right here's another one this is Wall Street Journal a corona virus great awake awakening question mark this is from my friend marilyn bauer's shared this with me now notice that notice the the the sub had a great great awakening is that what we have going on here sometimes the most important ingredient for spiritual renewal is a cataclysmic event okay so this is an op-ed piece by Robert Nicholson not gonna read it to you just a line or two could a plague of biblical proportions be America's best hope for religious revival as the 75th anniversary of the end of World War two approaches there is reason to think so paragraph paragraph paragraph skipped today the world faces another moment of Cataclysm though less devastating than World War two the pandemic has remade every lie every day life and wreck the global economy in a way that feels apocalyptic who wouldn't agree for societies founded on the biblical tradition meaning America UK a Western societies cataclysms need not mark the end they are a call for repentance and revival as the coronavirus pan subjects US hospitals to a fearsome test Americans can find solace in the notion great struggle can produce great clarity now here's his punchline could a rogue virus lead to a grand creative moment in America's history will Americans shaken by the reality of a risky universe rediscover the God who proclaimed himself sovereign over every catastrophe Wow can you get there from here listen when an op-ed piece suggests that you can i for one take it seriously look at op-ed pieces are not just private opinions they may not always be be agreed upon by the entire editorial board or staff but somebody some influencers are believing what the op-ed piece is suggesting could it be we're on the heat we're on the cusp of a coronavirus Great Awakening alright one more piece my friends Cindy toosh sent this to me within this past week this is from a website called New Boston Post all right New Boston Post they call themselves the hub of conservative thought if history rhymes is the title it's written by a gentleman it's another op-ed piece Joseph Tortelli he's very clear and he makes it clear that he's a Roman Catholic alright so he's wondering out loud remember an op-ed piece generally reflects influencers behind the scenes who share the same conviction so he's wondering out loud within weeks the coronavirus shutdown will draw to its inevitable conclusion life will settled into a new normal in the long run very likely our lives will change modestly at least one societal change resulting from the quarantine could do wonders to reinvigorate our national sense of family faith and community let's give serious thought to reinstating at least some of the time-honored Sunday closure laws sort of a 1 day per week modified stay at home request such action would rededicate our society to a regular day of rest family meals civic associations and religious observance you think of what I'm thinking next line by redirecting each Sunday as a common day of rest Oh Constantine did that once didn't he 321 ad we would say that the life of America is much more than never pausing Commerce and ever grinding bureaucracy many obvious benefits then to faith family and community are certain to accrue from Sunday closings we got to get away from this consumerism less obvious would be an economic uplift for the stores for those stores that the whether they call it the big malls have practically driven out of business skipping nine nine nine nine nine of course there will be plenty of entrenched opposition to a renewed Sunday four we rest reflection family faith and community but who ever imagined that Commerce and bureaucracy would hot grind to a halt for so many days and weeks and perhaps months as a result of a deadly virus in other words the virus has shown us that we can live with a with a Sunday off a Sunday rest and it won't hurt us at all we've just proved it we're still surviving as last line we are witnesses to history rhyming through a medical contagion and many days a quarantine after that quarantine passes why Cannot we also envision higher priorities for 52 Sunday's of family dinners neighborhood gatherings and church bell chimes yes that speaking of the church bell chimes would be the sweetest sound if history rhymes well my dear mr. Tortelli I do believe history rhymes I really do and we'll be back there in that history one day Wow you just file all of that under the heading can you get there from here you know what's what is it growing conviction for me this business of can you get there from here to there are you noticing that the distance between here and there is changing by the hour now wake up sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you one short imperative wake up sleeper one historic commemoration a death burial and resurrection of Christ the Christ who is our intercessor today and who is our soon coming King one day may I repeat the word soon wake up sleeper that's that's the summons that echoes today from the empty garden tomb in fact I want to end with a picture of the garden tomb that'd be all right there he is he's standing outside his garden toward the picture come from you might remember last fall I had two young artists on the worship platform with me at pioneer both of them commissioned and paid by the way to create two sets of depictions so there was young Nick collared a photography major he sketched two powerful depictions of Jesus on the cross and then as it turns out Joey Lisa Clark an architecture major created two more depictions one of Jesus rising from the dead and the second of Jesus returning on the cloud now watch this issue so you're looking at Joe Lisa's rendition you see Jesus there that sketch there he stands in front of that open Sepulchre door and we can almost hear his words I am the resurrection and the life wake up sleeper is the earnest cry that echoes from that empty tomb but I want you to see now her full color rendition of Jesus second coming I have it in my office do you see that look at that painting we look at that painting with all its graphic detail in color and we can hear the words of G behold I come quickly behold I come quickly and once again wake up sleeper is the urgent cry because how sad it would be if we kept on celebrating the resurrection of Jesus year after year and forgot all about preparing for the return of Jesus soon so here you and I are now face to face again I simply assure you that that one lined on this resurrection weekend Sabbath that one line is the Word of God to you and me right now let's pray Oh God two portraits of our Lord and one very earnest cry wake up sleeper for the hope we have that our beloved shall yet wake up we thank you with all our hearts and for the need we have to also wake up while there's still time we can only offer you all our hearts for surely it's a tender cry from the one who loves us most right now wake up sleeper wake up to which we want to reply by your grace we will Lord Jesus amen we've been really blessed by the financial support that comes from our viewers and we've made a conscious decision not to continually appeal to you for that support fact is as everyone in the industry will tell you we're needing to make constant upgrades to our technology so if God has blessed you and you'd like to further the work of this ministry we invite you to partner with us not a single penny of your donation will go to me every bit of your gift goes to the mission of blessing your community and our world you can donate on our website new perceptions TV or call the number you know the number 877 his will and that whereas eight seven seven to two words his will and may the God who has blessed you continue to pour into your life the gifts of his joy and his hope thank you and I'm looking forward to seeing you right here again next time [Music] you
