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2210 Farrington Hwy. P.O. Box 157 Ho'olehua, Moloka'i, HI 96729 PHONE: 808-567-6420 FAX: 808-553-5685

I remember a cartoon of two Roman soldiers guarding Jesus' tomb on the first Easter morning. Each is holding a mug of tea in his hand, and the sun is just rising above the horizon. One is encouraging the other. "Cheer up, it's Sunday morning. As I see it, we have one more day of guarding the tomb. By Monday this whole thing will blow over."

Well as we know it didn't blow over. As a matter of fact that first Easter morning things were just getting started. And of all the stories I've ever heard about Easter, I don't remember ever hearing it from the guards' perspective, do you?

Picture a couple of the Roman solders leaning against the tomb just before sunrise that Sunday morning and one looks at the other and says, "Is that your stomach grumbling? Didn't you just eat?" "I thought it was your stomach. Whoa." Suddenly they feel the stone moving behind them. Then there was a great earthquake. They leap to their feet just as a bright light envelops them. As these guys turn to run, scared to death and thinking they're going to need ghost busters, they turn back and see an angel, his clothing as white as snow, sitting on the stone. And their dead run turns into a dead faint. As they lay on the ground, passed out with fear, the slain Son of God stands to His feet, risen from the dead by the magnificent power of God.

But what about when they woke up? What happened to the guards after that? Matthew is the only gospel writer to tell us something about them but he doesn't really tell us a whole lot. No names, no numbers. Although he does say in verses 12-13 that some of them ran to the authorities and they accepted a bribe to spread the rumor that Jesus' disciples came during the night and stole His body.

Can you imagine? These guys really HAD this experience. They felt the earth shake. They saw the humongous stone moved away from the tomb. They saw the beaming opalescent angel. And they were so shook that they swooned. They saw the light. But not really. Some of the guards put their careers in jeopardy by accepting a bribe and lying to say that they allowed a bunch of wimpy Jewish fishermen to steal Jesus' body.

Imagine that. They were their own eyewitnesses to the power of God! But instead of letting God's power change them, they laid down until the Spirit passed them and went on about their business seemingly as if nothing happened. They were witnesses of the resurrection. And yet they chose to NOT believe, to NOT let it affect their lives. They could have become the chief spokesmen for the gospel! Instead they took a bribe to deny the very thing they'd seen, as awesome as the whole event was. And then we never hear about the guards again.

So here we are today, Resurrection Sunday 2000 years later. And we have a choice. We can let the power of the risen Jesus change us or we can be like the guards: duck and let Him pass by and hunt Easter eggs and look for cute bunnies and chickies.

Let me be clear. The same power that changed the dead body of Jesus can come and change you even if you've never touched or tasted it before. And the power of God can make you new even if you've been touched 1000 times before.

There's an old saying that God loves us so much that He doesn't want us to stay as we are. He wants to come into our lives and take every part of us that's dead and bring it to life - a new life in Him.

The whole purpose of Jesus' time on earth wasn't just to teach and it wasn't just to feed and heal hungry people. It was to lay His life down so that your sin could be taken away. He came to set you free.

Have you ever seen any of those pictures of escaping prisoners running away from a chain gang? Usually they're on foot and their pursuers are on horseback with guns. No matter where those prisoners run the bloodhounds can track them: through rivers, through valleys, even up a tree. No matter where they go the bloodhounds are relentless in their pursuit. Those prisoners WILL be found.

Did you know that one of the names that people use for God is the Hound of Heaven? That's because God relentlessly pursues us. He pursues us so He can change us by His love. He chases us through the mountains of our joys and our victories, He chases us through our gullies and gulches of despair and depression and He even chases us when we're all wet and covered with swamp slime.

Now you may be sitting there this morning feeling like God hasn't been relentlessly pursuing you. Or you may feel your gullies are so deep, and some of the things you've done are so bad, that God could never follow you there. But I'm here to tell you that there's no swamp too slimy, and there are no gullies too low that will make the Hound of Heaven give up in His pursuit of you. He loves you too much to let you stay where you are.

And what's even more amazing than God pursuing us is that when God finally gets our attention He doesn't act like a bloodhound. He doesn't chase us up a tree and howl at us. He doesn't grab a hold of our leg and shake us GRRRR. When the risen Jesus catches up to us, He does something no bloodhound ever does. He stops. He waits. And He gives us a choice. Do we want to be like the guards who lay down until the Spirit of God passed? Do we want to keep living our lives in our nice, comfortable routine ways? Or are we willing to let Him roll away the stones; those things that that guard places of sin, darkness, and death within us?

It's kind of spooky to have a gravestone rolled back. If you open a tomb to the light you might see things that you would rather not remember. There are dead things inside tombs. And you might see things that hurt so much; things that you have tried to forget. But here is the good news- Jesus doesn't want to expose our dark places to wound us. He wants to bring His light and bring life to those places. One of my favorite verses in the Bible says if any person has been touched by Jesus Christ, they are a new creation. The old things have passed away and all things are new.

Now you might be sitting there today thinking "I don't think I've ever felt the touch of Jesus in my life." Don't wait any longer in the darkness. Let the power that rolled away the stone and brought life to Jesus, come to you today. Let Jesus bring His light into you and bring you new life. Let me invite you to ask Him to touch you, today.

Or maybe it's been a long time… you can remember the excitement when you first felt Him touch you. You can still recall those moments when you felt Him giving you new life. But stuff happens. Life has gotten in the way. You're working 2 jobs and still falling behind in your bills. Trying to keep up with school is wearing you out. You can't figure out the next steps for your career or your life. You seem to be constantly worried about your children, the small ones and the grown ones. Your body isn't working like it was before. Or as Frank Delima used to say, "I know my car is smokin' and my stereo stay broken, but WOW! Laulau."

It's ironic that Jesus wants to bring us new life, but if we don't keep letting Him shine in the dark places, life can drag us down. We have a light in our kitchen that has a dimmer switch. When you push the button to turn it on - suddenly the room lights up. But if you slowly turn the knob, the room can become almost completely dark again. There still is a faint glimmer of light, enough to be able to see, but it can get almost gloomy because there isn't that brightness when the light is fully turned up.

For many of us who have felt the touch of Jesus in our lives, we have allowed the world to slowly turn the dimmer switch and slowly dim His light. Let me encourage you - let Jesus bring His light into you today.

This week I received an email from a friend named Catherine. Some of you may remember her from a few years ago. She worked with one of the corn companies that come to Moloka'i every year. Her husband Scott surprised her and came with their son for her last week here. On their last day of their time together on Moloka'i, they went swimming at Papohaku beach. Only she came out of the water alive. Her husband drowned. I met her because she was all alone, thousands of miles away from family and home. She was devastated. Her whole life had changed in an instant. Suddenly she was faced with raising their baby, working, and doing everything …alone, all by herself. There was not even a hint of life left in her. As the Body of Christ, this church came together, surrounded her with love, helped her bury her husband, and brought the light of Jesus into her life.
Listen to the words she wrote "When I had no words and only tears, all I could do was cry out to God; and He heard me, He took my hand, He filled my every need and every void."

Today is the day to decide that you are tired of the darkness. You are tired of being dragged down and beaten up. Now is the time to listen to that place deep within you that is crying out because it feels dead. There is something there - a door or a gravestone that is blocking the light of Jesus. Let's ask God to help us roll away that stone and open the door to the light of Christ. It's time to let God bring His light to you, take your hand, and fill every need and every void with new life. Pray with me now…. Dear God, I am tired of the darkness. There are places inside of me that feel dead. Sometimes I feel weak and there are times I want to give up. But I hear that You have come to bring life and light to those places of darkness and death. I want to experience the hope and the joy of a new life. I want to open my heart and ask You to bring that new life to me. I need help moving some of those heavy stones that keep Your light out. Please come inside me and help me. Bring your light, take my hand, and fill my empty places. I know that I can pray this because Jesus died for me and then was filled with Your power. Thank you for pursuing me with Your love. Help me tell everyone that You do. Amen.