Jesus is the answer

It is the beginning of the hardest week of the year for me, for pastors everywhere.

Why?
You want to give the absolute best you can give to worship God.

It's holy week, which means sermons Thursday night, Sunday morning at sunrise, Sunday at Wesley Chapel, Sunday at Coushatta First. 

It's also, however, the most meaningful week to me, emotionally and stress-wise. 

Jesus made sure I, you, would have eternal life. How, one wonders, would that gesture not be so very hard to understand? More importantly, how can anyone, any reasonable, any thoughtful, any perplexed, any sorrowful, any intelligent person say no to him?

I believe there is but one answer to life's problems, life's worries, life's failures. It's the reason we search for desperately to find something to fill the hole in us.

Friends, that's Jesus. Period. Finality. It is finished.

He beat death to death. 
He walked through locked doors to get to his friends.
He got up from the dead.
He said love your neighbor, not beat on them if they disagree with you.
He forgave even those who killed him.
He gave advice that clings to goodness like birds on a wire.
He saved us.
He saved me.
He said He would come again. And He told us to wait and watch.

He heals. He transforms. 

His grace is water to a parched throat, mercy to the merciless, something we, I, have never earned.

And it all starts with Jesus being the answer.

Look at the words to one of the first Contemporary Christian songs I heard some 20 years ago by Mr. Andrea Crouch. It's the theme of the week as we head to Easter:

Jesus is the answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.

If you have some questions
In the corners of your mind,
Traces of discouragement,
The piece you cannot find,
Reflections of your past,
Seem to face you everyday,
But this one thing I do know,
That Jesus is the way.

Jesus is the answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.

I know you've got mountains,
That you think you cannot climb,
I know your skies are dark,
You think the sun won't shine,
But in case you don't know,
That the word of God is true,
Everything he's promised,
He will do it for you.

Jesus is the Answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the answer, for the world today,
Above Him there's no other,
Jesus is the way.