How many of you have seen Star Wars ?
If you haven’t seen it then what are you doing with your life, surely it’s the most important film to see
Those of you who haven't seen it, do you know the story line ?
Well I'll recap, because I know there are probably some people like Mark who have seen it, but that was in 1977, and so have forgotten most of it.
Princess Leia - she’s the babe who wears the white baptismal gown, and has her hair done like danish pastries on the side of head.
She is being held hostage by the evil imperial forces in their effort to squash the rebellion against the galactic empire (that's the baddies, in case you didn’t know, Darth Vader's team And Darth Vader - he’s the black robot looking dude who gets followed round all movie by an ochestra going "da, da, da
Just before they took her hostage she sent a message in R2-D2- he’s the little robot with 3 legs and a short temper. I’d like to know what obscene things he says cos everything he tries to say gets bleeped out anyway R2-D2 and C3-PO ( the dorky looking gold robot) get away with the message, and get bought by Luke Skywalker’s. While Luke is cleaning them he stumbles across Leia's plea for help and delivers it to Obe Wan Kenobi.
And due to the magic of video projectors here it is
Luke then goes home to find out that the troops from the evil empire have killed his aunt and uncle, and so ol' farmer boy Luke Skywalker and Obe Wan team up together to save the princess and in the process begin Lukes training in the ancient ways of "the force".
In the midst of rescuing Leia, Obe Wan becomes locked in a light saber duel with his old adversary Darth Vader, who long ago turned to the "dark side of the force".
Darth Vader pays out Obe Wan for being a weak old man, like he can talk, he’s the one whose puffing and panting everytime he moves.
Obe Wan makes the ultimate sacrifice. By allowing himself to be killed he distracted the imperial forces and thus the rest of the good guys could escape plus he was able to remain with Luke, via the force, for the rest of the movie and could ultimately help him to defeat the evil empire. It was Obe Wan's prompting that convinced Luke to use the force and through this he was able to drop that bomb down that small hole in the Death Star which brings us to the end of Star Wars.
As you could probably guess it's not my plan to talk about Star Wars for the rest of this evening, although I will willing do so after the service. What I want to talk about is the ultimate sacrifice - like what Obe Wan did for the sake of the rebellion - he gave up his life to help them.
Have you heard the concept of the ultimate sacrifice mentioned before. It get's brought up each time we think of those people who went to war to keep our freedom. Such as ANZAC day and other times when we remember those who fought and died for our country. I greatly admire and appreciate what these people did for us, I'm pleased that they kept our country free.
But for me, the "diggers" are not the first one's I think about when I hear the phrase the "ultimate sacrifice". Instead for me, JESUS is the person that comes to mind because his ultimate sacrifice has influenced me deeply. He allowed himself to be sacrificed, and die nailed on a wooden cross for us. He didn't want to die, it wasn’t his idea of a fun day out, but he chose to do so out of obedience to his father and out of his love for us.
It shows how much Jesus loves each one of us, in that he was willing to go through the pain of being crucified because he loves us so much. The best thing about Jesus death is that unlike Obe Wan Kenobi, Jesus came back to life 3 days later. And by God raising Jesus from the dead it has given us a new hope.
Not that we too may rise from the dead in a physical sense, because do you really want to come back to earth again. But by Jesus dying and coming back to life again it means that we can live with him in heaven when we die if we just believe in and choose to follow him.
I think that if we are honest with ourselves we'd have to admit that we all sin. Sin just means to stuff things up and chose to do things that we know we shouldn't do. Things like lying, stealing, swearing and the list goes on. It's this that stops us from being able to spend eternity with God, because he's perfect and can't stand sin.
When God made us he wanted to be our friend, but we chose to be selfish and do our own thing which is SIN. So because of this we would all be destined to die and get separated from God forever , that is to go to Hell. A place where there is nothing good, no friendship, no love, no fun, just pain. But of course we all want to be with God and go to heaven.
We often try and work our way to heaven through being really good or helping others out or making up our own religion or philosophy, but quite simply no amount of work will convince God to let you in to heaven. It's like when you go to the show and you have to be a certain height to go on a ride. It doesn't matter if your too short by 2cm or 2 feet, it's bad luck you don't fit the requirement. It's like that for heaven too, everything in heaven is perfect, and so they aren't gonna change the rules for anybody, not even you. If you've sinned once then you aren't perfect so you can't get in by your own doing. But Like princess Leia said to Obe Wan Kenobi " your our only hope " - it's the same with us and Jesus. We have sinned, there is nothing we can do to change it and now, Jesus is our only hope.
Thankfully Jesus was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice and through his dying and rising again we can go to heaven because we can be washed free of sin and made perfect not because we become any better people, but because of what Jesus did.
Just like any time when we want forgiveness from another person you have to admit our guilt, say sorry, and begin to change, it's the same with Jesus. For him to forgive us we need to admit our guilt, tell him that we are sorry for our sins, believe that he came and died for our sins so that we canchange by asking him into our heart so we can follow him. Jesus then comes and washes us free from sin, but it's not a once off experience, he stays with us to help us each day of our life. He has given us the Bible which is sort of an instruction book for life, that helps keep us from getting ourselves into trouble. It is the Bible that instructs us in how we can live as Jesus wants, because he wants the best for us. He hasn't come to kill our fun, but to make sure we are kept safe while enjoying the life he has given us.
road rules - red and green lights
To be forgiven by Jesus don't think that you have to become perfect, so that he will love you. As it said in the bible reading earlier. Jesus Christ died for us while we were sinners, so don’t think you have to become all holy to become a Christian,and be able to recite the Latin version of the Lord’s Prayer to be holy enough for God to forgive, but it's by accepting Jesus into your life that you do become perfect in God's sight. It doesn't matter how bad you think you are Jesus still loves you right now, because he made you and you are special to him.
Don't be like the Smashing Pumpkins who in their hit single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" sang that
" and I still believe that I can not be saved"
- because Jesus loves you as you are, no matter how bad and sinful you think you are, he loves you anyway. He just wants you to start to love him and show that by choosing to follow him.
Jesus is offerring you his gift of eternal life. But what must you do to own this gift for yourself . Take it eg iced coffee - if I say anyone who wants this iced coffee can come and get it. - ITS A FREE GIFT the gift of this iced coffee wasn’t mal’s until he came and took it. While he was in his seating thinking lots about iced coffee saying to himself " I believe there is an iced coffee out there somewhere", thinking about other people who he knew who had iced coffees, he still didn’t have this gift of an iced coffee till he came and took it as his own by the way leave the iced coffee unopened, or Mr George will get you cos I know your a solo man and will spill it on the holy carpet
It's the same with Jesus, don't just think that he came died and rose from the dead, and that he’s out there somewhere. Accept him and his free gift of eternal life for yourself.
Speaking of something out there, did you know that the X-files is lying to you. Mulder and Scully will try and convince you that the truth is out there somewhere, probably never to be found. But I’d like to tell you that’s rubbish it’s here, in the bible. It says in the bible that Jesus has come to be the living water, so that you may never be thirsty again (or the modern equivalent may be the living iced coffee). I believe that everyone in life is constantly searching, thirsty for something more, that’s why we are so curious to know if there is anything out there. We see it with the new wave of science fiction movies like Event Horizon, Indepence Day, Contact, Men in Black. People want to know if there is more to life than school, work, death. But how does it change your life if there are primitive worms on mars or there is some creature found 100 light years away from the earth.
I’ll tell you what "out of this world" encounter has changed my life and that is when I met with the creator of the universe and realised that he actually cares for insignicant little me. You are just one out of 6 billion people, pretty insignicant hey. But God still loves you enough, that he sent his only son to die for YOU. So that you can believe in him, and ask him into your life so that you can follow him and his most excellent plans for your life, both in this life and when you die, so that you will be with him in heaven. Because by accepting Jesus into your life which is what you do to become a Christian, you get a new best friend, Jesus. He is there for you all the time, in the good times and the bad - ready to help you out and direct you along life's tricky pathway, kind of like the force in Star Wars, Jesus will always be there to guide your path. With Jesus in your life you need never be alone again, because he's always there and
- he will never let you down.
Obe wan kenobi’s death benefitted only a small group of rebels in one of the most amazing stories ever told. Jesus death benefits a whole world of rebels in THE most amazing TRUE story ever told. Each one of us in this world are rebels in that we have turned our back on God and chosen to live for our own selfish desires. But Jesus death can impact you and change your life as it did for me in year 12. That was when I decide that it made sense to follow Jesus, tonight can be your night. Jesus died for you so that you might live forever with him. Jesus offers you so much life, so now what is your response to him.
possible extra - semi charmed life (third eye blind) - there has got to be more to this semi-charmed life
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