RISEN - Do You Know Jesus or Just the Story about Jesus? (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on Feb. 28, 2016)

Have you ever heard about a person only to find out that they are very different than what you had heard?  Have you read about someone in books or articles and then you got to know them in person and were surprised because they were so different from what you imagined?  On a number of occasions I have been told that I am nothing like what so-and-so had told that person about me.  As social creatures, we intuit what people are like from many different sources-gut feeling, first impression, a friend's opinion, national polling data, personal bias, history, etc.

I have found that rarely do people live up to (or down to) the stories told about them.  People are usually different than we imagine based on the information we are given.  Most scoundrels have some redeeming qualities, and most saints have some ghosts in their closets.  We are more than the brief synopsis that might be used at our funerals.

Do you know about Jesus or do you know Jesus?  This is a critical point as we approach Easter.  Most of the world is familiar with the story about Jesus, but do you KNOW him?  While the story of Scripture can help us get to know who Jesus is, through the Holy Spirit of God, I can come to know the Father and the Son.  

This Easter my challenge is to help you get to know Jesus, not just the story about Jesus.  I want you to know the Son of God who loved you so much that He died for you and His Father who sent Him into the world.  Join me as we get to know the Jesus of the Easter story a little bit better over the next 5 weeks.