Duration: 00:44:33 - This sermon is 44 minutes and 33 seconds long. Please be aware that it may take a few moments to load after you click the play button above.
Pastor Rob's Notes
What Difference does it make?
What difference did Jesus make in history?
Without much argument, believers and non-believers alike would agree that no one has had a greater impact on history than Jesus Christ. This man, who spent the first 30 years of His life in obscurity working side by side with his adoptive father, would leave a greater mark on history than any man before or after Him. Now, 2,000 years later, in spite of all the attempts to silence Him, more books have been written about Him, more pieces of art have been created about Him, and more songs have been sung about Him than anyone else in history. This man, a simple carpenter who never traveled more than a few hundred miles from the town He was born in, has impacted billions of people in every corner of the world.
In Ephesians 1, we read, “21Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.”
What difference can Jesus make today?
Two thousand years ago, Jesus stood before His disciples and gave what has become known as the Great Commission. He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” When He said that, I don’t think He was just saying, “Go tell people about Me.” You see, for three years, His followers had watched Him heal the sick, embrace the hurting, clothe the naked, feed the poor and love the unlovable. Essentially, what Jesus was saying in Matthew 28 was, “You’ve watched me … now it’s your turn. Now, you are my hands and feet.” Our hands are to become His hands, our feet become His feet, our actions become his actions and our words become His words. And that’s what following Jesus is really all about.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
What difference could Jesus make in your life?
I think we can all see what sort of difference Jesus and the church have made in history and the difference that Jesus is making in the world today. But what does that mean to us, right now, in our everyday lives? I want you to know that Jesus wants to make a difference in your life, right where you are. The larger impact of the church is only what it is because of the transformational power of Jesus’ resurrection in the lives of individual people — people just like you and me.