The pastor argues that Jesus Christ cannot be bound by human ideas or institutions. The resurrection shows that Jesus is Lord of all people, not just one group. Jesus is calling believers out of religious bondage and into new life. Jesus accepts people of every nation and is not limited by human categories, as shown when he saved the Gentile Cornelius despite Peter's objections. Christ's resurrection power cannot be contained by any church, theology, or political group. Jesus is Lord of all.

1. Christ Unbound: Lord of All
““I truly understand that God shows no
partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears
him and does what is right is acceptable to him. …
Jesus Christ_he is Lord of all.” Acts 10:34-36
(portions)
Main Point: The Spirit is calling believers out of
the bondage of religion into the new life of Jesus
Christ.
Easter Sunday April 24, 2011 Acts 10:34-36, Psalm 118:20-24,
Matthew 28:1-10
Congregational Church of South Hempstead
I. Introduction
Why it is that in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, now Libya, and
even rumblings in China; people are rising up against
dictatorships?
I think it’s more like the cab driver I met when I
participated on an educational tour of Cuba two years ago
with a delegation of clergy, lawyers and academics…
50 blankety-blank years… enough already!!!!

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There’s something in the air _I believe it is the same thing
that moved people to break out of the mold of politics-as-
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usual to elect President Barack Obama _ there is an
energy, a shared yearning in the hearts of people all over
the world to be free from the bondage of old, stanky ideas;
to be loosed from the tyranny of tired, unproductive,
unimaginative leadership.
All over the world… people are tired of the same old stuff
and they are hearing a call to something new…
II. What Does That Have to Do with Easter?
When Jesus got up… he performed the greatest miracle of
all time. Somebody said “well what about Lazarus?” Yes,
raising Lazarus from the dead was, for a few weeks, until
Easter, perhaps the greatest miracle Jesus ever performed.
But,
 1 Kings 17, Elijah and the Zarephath widow’s son
 2 Kings 4, Elisha and the Shunamite woman’s son

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Nowhere else in the Bible does anyone get up from the
dead on their own….
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Now there was a time when I would use my precious few
Easter moments to try to convince the 1-2 nonbelievers in
the room that resurrection is real; that God can do the
impossible act of making a dead body alive again ….
Suffice it to say that there is NO definitive evidence
anywhere proving that Jesus did NOT get up from death;
no grave for Jesus has ever been found; no document, no
conspiracy theory; no secret book; no Da Vinci code
Hollywood movie…
The only evidence of what happened after Jesus’ death is
biblical evidence, and the evidence of a surviving
movement that’s over 2000 years old….
So I’m not going to try to prove to you that Jesus was born,
Jesus lived, Jesus taught, preached and healed, Jesus died,

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and Jesus rose from the dead. The Bible says that it
happened.
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But beyond that,
 beyond the evidence of biblical witnesses;
 beyond the stories of his eating and drinking with the
disciples
 beyond the testimony of some 500 hundred witnesses
 beyond the Gospel accounts of Mary, and Mary
Magdalene and the other women at the tomb
 beyond all of that
 something deep within my soul;
 something within me
 something within me I cannot explain
 somethin’, something within
 Psalm 42:7 says of it “deep calleth to deep”
 In the deepest part of my soul
 I can say with confidence , like Job said “I know that My
Redeemer lives”

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III. A New Day for the Church
What I believe God wants us to see today, in the spirit of
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the Resurrection, is what the Holy Spirit is saying to us in
the Acts 10 tradition about Peter, the disciple of Jesus and
fantastic preacher, and the Roman Centurian Cornelius
and his household, the first Gentiles, the first non-Jews to
become Christians... [TELL THE STORY]
If it was left up to Peter, Cornelius (a more religious man
than a lot of Christians) would have never met Jesus. For
Peter, Jesus was not supposed to save Gentiles.
The first verse of the first Gospel refers to Jesus as the son
of David. This is a direct reference to 2 Sam 7:13 when the
Lord promises King David that throne of his descendant
will endure forever… All of Israel, all Jews, all of the
disciples believed that the Messiah would be a return to a
King like David… Jesus was not the Israelite idea of
second King David.

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The Scribes, Pharisees, religious leaders were looking for a
Messiah who was ritually pure and doctrinally exact…
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Jesus healed the blind man, fed the hungry, and did all
kinds of “works” on the Sabbath! Jesus was not the
religious leaders’ idea of Messiah.
The disciples were expecting Jesus to use his God-powers
to lead a hostile takeover of the kingdoms of this world.
But Jesus surrendered to the temple guards knowing that
he was going to be crucified. Jesus was not the
disciples’ idea of a warrior-king.
Peter was content to preach the Gospel to the people of
Israel and to lead the growing Messiah movement
exclusively within the global community of Jews. Jesus
was not Peter’s idea of a Savior for anyone but his
own people.
The Catholic Church once taught that the bible was the
only source of revelation and that the pope was the head of

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the church. But in the 16th century Martin Luther said that
neither of these things was so, and started the Protestant
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Reformation. For the Catholic church before Martin
Luther, Jesus was not supposed to reveal
anything directly to lay people.
The Lutherans thought that their way was the right way to
do baptisms and serve the Lord’s Supper. But then came
the Anabaptists, and then the Methodists, and then the
Anglicans, and then the Episcopalians, and the
Presbyterians, and the Pentecostals, and the Evangelicals,
and the Congregationalists, and over 100 different kinds of
Baptists, and the Reformed Church, and the Orthodox
Church, the Church of God, the Church of Christ, the
Church of God in Christ, the United Church of Christ, the
Disciples of Christ, and…. I can go on and on with this list,
and then I can go to another country… But excuse me if I
use Ebonics to say this: Jesus ain’t studyin’ any o y’all
denominations….

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What am I saying today, Beloved?
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 Jesus was not bound by the Israelites’ hopes for a
Second David
 Jesus was not bound by the regulations of the lawyers,
the Scribes, or the Pharisees
 Jesus was not bound by the disciples hope for a warrior
king
 When he went before the high priests in that mock trial
that would lead to his death, Jesus was not bound to
answer their questions.
 When he forgave the crowd before he died on the cross,
Jesus was not bound by our ideas about forgiveness
 And when he got up…. got up…. got up from the dead,
Jesus was not bound by the laws of nature.
 There’s not enough extra-biblical “evidence” to prove
the resurrection one way or the other, but Jesus is not
bound by our belief or our unbelief

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 Whether Peter got the vision or not, Jesus was not
bound by Peter’s ethnocentrism and Peter’s prejudice
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against Gentiles
 Jesus is not bound by what the Catholics say he is
 Jesus is not bound by what the Protestants say he is
 He’s not bound by whether you claim to be
Congregationalist
 Nor is he bound because you belong to the UCC
 Jesus could care less that you believe God is still
speaking
 Jesus is not bound by your belief that God can only
speak through the bible
 Jesus is not bound by your hatred of Muslims or your
love for certain hymns
 Jesus has never voted Democrat
 Jesus has never been to a Tea Party
 Jesus can go to any church he wants to.
 Or Jesus can go to a synagogue, a temple, a mosque, a
bar, a jail house, a storefront church, a cathedral, a crack
house, a park bench, a homeless shelter, the White

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House, the Kremlin, Jesus can even go to one of those
caves that bin Laden is hiding in…
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What the HS was saying to Peter is the same thing that
Jesus is saying to the church today. GET WITH THE
PROGRAM PEOPLE!!!! NOT EVEN THE GRAVE CAN
KEEP ME BOUND. WHY DO YOU THINK YOU CAN
KEEP ME BOUND UP IN THAT LITTLE, TINY BOX
CALLED YOUR IDEA OF CHURCH OR YOUR IDEA OF
WHO I CAN SAVE?
The Spirit is calling believers out of the bondage of
religion into the new life of Jesus Christ.
The message of the resurrection is that Jesus Christ cannot
be bound. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
There’s something in the air … There is an energy, a shared
yearning in the hearts of people all over the world to be
free from the bondage of old, stanky ideas; to be loosed

11. Christ Unbound, Lord of All
4/24/11
from the tyranny of tired, unproductive, unimaginative
leadership. All over the world… people are tired of the
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same old stuff and they are hearing a call to something
new… They’re primed for some church folk to show up in
the name of Jesus….
The Spirit is calling believers out of the bondage of
religion into the new life of Jesus Christ.
The message of the resurrection is that Jesus Christ cannot
be bound. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
Christ is unbound. Jesus Christ is Lord of All!!!