Church of the Nazarene - East Rockingham Campus

Over the last few weeks as a church we have been in a teaching series called “Encounter the Cross”

We have been looking to the bible and coming face to face with the story of the cross as well as some of the stories that surround it. We don’t just want to come face to face with the story- we want to encounter the power of Jesus Christ for our lives today and see how we might live differently in the light of His story.

Today we are going to look at 3 encounters of the cross. Stories of 3 different people and their face-to-face experience with the cross.

Jesus and two criminals are led out of the city to a hilltop where they are crucified. When you pass a set of three crosses along the road- this is the story they are pointing too.

Crucifixion was a violent and horrible form of execution. Hands and feet nailed into the wood, victims left there for hours or even days before they died.

This is a crazy encounter, just imagine with me.

The noon day sun has been darkened- not like a thunderstorm, but like nightfall.

Jesus, out of breath, weak, he cries out from the cross, yielding up his own life and spirit to the Father in death.

Miles away in the temple, the place where the people of God had worshiped, a curtain that is 4” thick is torn from top to bottom.

For miles around the ground is shaking- the rocks are split and torn just like the curtain in the temple.

This event is so dramatic that it even wakes the dead, as the text records that bodies come out of the ground alive.

All of this at the death of Jesus.

In one moment all the talk about Jesus being the son of God, the savior of the world, comes flooding back- and the Centurion realizes, they were right, this is the son of God.

As the Centurion stands there with Jesus’ blood on his hands, the earth trembling beneath his feet, he cant explain it all, he’s probably not entirely sure what it means, but he believes the God of the universe has stepped into our story in the person of Jesus- and now, he has died on a cross.

He had encounters with crosses practically his whole life- but this was different. This one changed his life, because of Jesus.

Our next cross encounter story is the story of Frank Silecchia.

Frank encounters the cross in the most unexpected of places and in the cross he sees a reminder of God’s love, even in the midst of tragedy.

Standing there in the midst of the rubble of the twin towers Frank was filled with questions and heartbroken. He was there searching for life. And he found it. Just not in the way he was expecting. Frank encountered the cross.

A reminder that God loves us, that he is with us.

Our last encounter story this morning is a bit different, it’s much closer to home.

Our last encounter story is your story. Yes, yours.

God in his great love for you has seen to it that you would come face to face with story of Jesus.

To hear the story of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins, to hear that we can come into God’s presence and into relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

We have gotten to celebrate that Jesus is alive, he is a living hope today for every person because of the resurrection. This is the story of the Cross and the story of Resurrection Sunday.

And I cant help but wonder today, what’s your story going to be after this encounter?

How will you respond? Will your story be different?

Maybe today- right now, you will choose to believe.

The rest of the story is really up to you.