Last Words
“1…2…3…” (Easter)
4/1/2018
Ed Young
God wants a relationship with all of us, and he has done everything he can to make it simple. But so often, we complicate the simple when we really don’t need to. In this special Easter message, Pastor Ed Young shows us the powerful reality of two short sentences that capture the essence of the Christian faith. And he reveals just how easy understanding God’s purpose and plan for our lives is. It’s all about 1…2…3!
Transcript
Happy Easter to everybody. I'm sure you're going, “Man, I love that suit!”
This suit is tailor made. I don't usually get tailor-made suits. I mean, I could, I just don't. In fact, this is the first tailor-made suit I've worn in my 28 years as being pastor of Fellowship. A friend of mine just gave me this suit. A tailor came by the office, measured me, I picked out the fabric, then he went, made the suit, and I put it on. Tailor made from head to toe. Somebody call somebody, somebody call the fashion police, because look, my name is on the inside. And check out this shirt, it's also tailor made, he did this for me, too. My initials EBY. Is that sweet? So I'm feeling good. This Easter, I'm tailor made from head to toe.
But having a tailor-made suit is pretty much as easy and one, two, three, especially when it's free. Step one, they measured me. Step two, they made this suit. Step three, I put it on. One, two, three.
You remember Michael Jackson back in the day? ♪ A, B, C ♪ ♪ It's easy as one, two, three ♪ One, two, three. One, two, three.
I was thinking about one, two, three, because the subject I'm going to talk about today on this Easter Sunday is entitled, “1…2…3.” Say, one, two, three with me. One, two, three.
I thought about three-word phrases. There's some powerful three-word phrases out there. One of them is “I love you.” Hopefully you've heard that today. Maybe your spouse said, “I love you.” Maybe your child said, “I love you.”
Another one is three-word phrase, “How are you?” How are you?
Now maybe if you're married, this is a huge three-word phrase you need to recite and memorize, “Baby, you're right.”
And here's another one for the married folk, “Sorry, sorry, sorry.” If you say it three times, it means more.
Then, how about this one. “We are pregnant.” That's the Millennial way to say it. It's not “I am pregnant,” it’s “We are pregnant.” Powerful words.
And here's another one, “Don't post that.”
Try this one on, another powerful three-word statement, “It is finished.” Jesus was hanging between heaven and earth paying for the collective sins of mankind, of your mistakes and mine. He said in John 19:30, “It is finished.”
One, two, three. I've got to say that's probably the most significant statement ever uttered, because it summarized eternity past, present, and future. Jesus said, “It is finished.” Because Jesus said that, I think we need to understand what it means.
We say all the time, “It is what it is.” Have you ever said that? This is the first time it is what it is was ever uttered. Because “it is what it is” is basically saying, “Hey, that's reality, deal with it. You can either accept it or not.”
