The Great Rescue - Resurrection Sunday

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Podcast Title: The Great Rescue

Date: April 20, 2025 (Easter Sunday)

Location: Church On The Rock Nashville (COTRN), Nashville, Arkansas

Speaker: Pastor Nick Birmingham

Opening:

• Enthusiastic greeting: "God's good. Yes. He is. Well, happy resurrection Sunday!"
• Acknowledges those happy to be in church and playfully engages with those still deciding.
• Expresses joy in celebrating the wonderful day.
• Announces the scripture focus: 1 John 4:9-10.

Title of Message: The Great Rescue

Introduction:

• Reflects on the core of Easter: God rescuing us from our mess.
• Highlights our cultural fascination with rescue stories in books and TV shows (e.g., Tracker, Rambo, Saving Private Ryan, fairy tales).
• Shares a recent real-life rescue story of a pastor in South Africa abducted at gunpoint during a prayer meeting and his subsequent rescue by an elite unit.
• Emphasizes our universal desire to be rescued, even when we try to be self-sufficient.
• Draws a parallel between fictional rescues (prince saving the damsel, Forrest Gump and Bubba) and the motivation behind them: love.
• States that the passage in 1 John embodies this idea for Christ followers: God's love revealed through Jesus Christ as an overwhelming response to rescue us.
• Highlights that as Christ followers, we are to do likewise.

The Nature of Love:

• Discusses the repeated emphasis on the word "love" in 1 John 4.
• Reflects on personal experiences and perceptions of love (being noticed, cared for, encouraging words, sacrificial acts).
• Questions the true definition of love in our culture, noting how it can feel skewed and transactional.
• Acknowledges personal struggles with loving others equally and the ease of loving some more than others.
• Points to the cross and the empty tomb as the true picture of sacrificial love that comes to our rescue.

Synopsis of the Gospel Story (The Rescue Mission):

• Briefly outlines Jesus' journey: coming to earth as a child, walking among humanity to save/rescue.
• Mentions Jesus' ridicule, attacks, betrayal, and crucifixion by the Romans at the behest of the Jewish people.
• Acknowledges Good Friday's significance for us as the day Jesus rescued us, despite it being a terrible day for Him (beatings, crucifixion).
• Highlights the disciples' fear and scattering after Jesus' death.
• Celebrates the Sunday resurrection: Jesus defeating death, hell, and the grave for us.
• Poses the question: Why would He do that for us? The answer: Because He loved us.
• Expresses concern that we may not fully grasp the depth of this redeeming love.<