#18 Be in the Winner's Circle (30/03/02)

By Robert H. Schuller

Happy Easter! Welcome to the world's greatest winner's circle. We who follow Jesus Christ are not the losers; we are the big winners. More people admire and respect the name and follow Jesus Christ today than have ever followed any religious leader, any philosopher or any politician. Followers of Jesus Christ out number all other religions ever on Planet Earth. We are the winners and we follow the Winner, Jesus Christ himself. And it's true because He died and rose again and the resurrection was so believable to those who could know the truth that the faith could never be extinguished.

I have here a wonderful greeting. Just came from Moscow. To Dr. Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral. Agumin Ian, Chairman of the Apartment for Religious in Education and Catechism of the Moscow Patriarch. You should know that of all religions this church, Crystal Cathedral, and your senior minister, Robert Schuller, are the only names that appear on a certificate signed by the Parliament and by the Patriarch of the Moscow Orthodox Church giving us total and complete freedom to do what we want to in that country. It's a rare, rare position and now they have remembered us by bringing us Easter greetings. Dear Dr. Schuller; Christ is risen. In truth he has risen. May the Lord bless you in your further care and good deeds for the welfare of the church. We love you in our Lord Jesus Christ. Ian and the Orthodox Church of Russia. That's remarkable and they'll be listening to this so thank them for us.

Welcome to the world of winners and the world of winners are those who follow Jesus Christ. And it makes sense, if you'll live right, think right, believe right, pray right and behave right you're going to have good friends and you're going to make it in life like you can't believe. Look at this ministry that started 46 years ago with nothing and reaches tens of millions of people, more people than any other church on Planet Earth in human history. Why? Because of you and people like you. We are alive. We are resurrected. We are in the winner's circle. And if you're a doubter or an unbeliever or a skeptic or an agnostic or an atheist - hey, hey, it's Easter. Step into the winner's circle. Become a part of our community.

Here's Christ's promise: I'm the resurrection and the life. He who lives and believes in Me shall live. What's life? That's the real question: what is life? Is it just the birth to death experience? The year that you were born, then a dash and then the year you die. So what is life? Just the dash between 2 years?

I remember a man said to me years ago, he said, "I'm just living to make enough to retire and do nothing." Sad soul. He succeeded. He made enough to retire and do nothing.

Colonel Sanders, you know him, you know he's been gone many years, the white beard. Colonel Sanders Fried Chicken. Great guy, terrific friend of mine, been to this church more than once. And the last time before he died he was in his 80's, and he said, "Schuller, never retire. Don't even think about it." I'd asked him, were you retiring? He said, "Nope. There are too many things to do. The spirit of having something added to your life tomorrow must always be there." It gets tough once in a while. He said, "Life doesn't have to be easy to be wonderful." Wow! You have to get up every morning," he said, "with something important to do."

Now that's life! And Jesus said, "I'm the resurrection and the life." What's that mean? That means that He will resurrect somebody who doesn't have any dreams or any reason to get up tomorrow morning or any ambition to make a difference. He can resurrect that basically dead soul into a living creature where you get up in the morning and you remember, "I've got to call that person. They're going through some problems. And I better call on him because he's going to have to go for surgery this week."

When you connect with Jesus Christ you have a caring thing about other people and that means you have something to do. Easter, Easter challenges us to see all of life from God's perspective and not just a human materialistic perspective. That's when we become alive.

You know, we built a mountain home, beautiful place up in Big Bear many years ago. And when the last of our children were grown we gave it to the church and the church uses it for special little retreats. It's a very nice place. And we were there one time and I'll never forget Carol was slapping her hand. She said, "Those mosquitoes." Then she said, "I don't like this place." Was quite a shock. "I don't like this place. There are all these mosquitoes." And her mother said to her, "But Carol, in the wintertime you like to come here and ski and in the wintertime the mosquitoes are all frozen. They're all dead." She looked and she said, "But do they know it?"

And I think of people, people that are dead but they don't know it because they've never defined what real life can be. And that's because they don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Honest to God, if you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ you have a different life. You really do. You have a very important reason to get up every morning, because you're caring about people.

Cardinal Newman said something very profound one time. He said, "Do not fear death, fear rather that your life may never have a beginning." Some of you haven't begun to live. And you will when you embrace Christ and God becomes real to you and you live by faith and you have a spiritual dimension. Sadness.

I love the story of the little boy who was for a canoe ride by this wise old man. And the water was smooth and the branch dipped low and the old man grabbed the leaf, gave it to the boy, and said, "Tell me son, what do you know about the trees?" And said, "We haven't learned that yet. I don't know anything about the trees." And a little while down the stream the old man reached down, lifted a wet hand holding a wet rock shining in the sun and said to the boy, "Tell me, what kind of a stone is this? What do you know about the earth?" And the little boy said, "Nothing. We haven't studied that yet either." And then twilight came soon and the first evening star came out and the old man said, "Son, look, the evening star. What's the name of it?" Boy said, "I don't know." The old man said, "What do you know about the stars? Do you know where the Big Dipper is?" And he said, "No, we haven't learned about that yet." And the old man said, "If you don't know anything about the trees, nothing about the soil of Planet Earth, nothing about the stars in the cosmos. Son, that's 75% of life and you don't have it." And then they could hear it; a distant rumbling and it grew stronger. And the man's face became alarmed. And the little boy said, "What's that noise?" And the man fearfully said, "It's a water fall." And the little boy said, "We better jump out and swim." And the old man said, "Swim? I've never learned that yet." And the boy said, "Then you just lost all of your life.
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Perspective, that's the point, perspective. Look at life from God's perspective. That's what Easter does. Even horrific tragedy, we see it from God's perspective and we don't lose the faith. Our hopes are resurrected even in enormous grief. You lose a loved one, you buried someone this week but your love of life, is that right? I am the resurrection and the life, because Jesus whispers to you. He who lives and believes in Me shall never die. You don't die when you die. Even science is becoming so spiritual and so religious. They discovered in all the genes and in all of the DNA and in all of the cosmos of the stars and in physics, where ultimate material seems to be spiritual. Science is becoming very spiritual today. We are the beginning of a century that I predict will be one of the most powerful religious centuries in human history and leading the way will be those who follow Jesus Christ, because we have the good news. He said it; "I'm the resurrection and the life." Wow! He who lives, you are all alive, and believes in Me, will believe in Him, shall never die.

Let me say on this Easter, Jesus Christ does what He did the first Easter. He looked for friends and He called them by name. "Mary." Not, "Hey, you." Then Peter, "Peter." And when Peter responded Jesus said, "Do you love Me, Peter?" And then Thomas. "Thomas, put your fingers in the holes of My hands if you don't believe I'm resurrected from the dead. Touch Me." And Thomas froze. And He's saying to you, "If you don't believe Me you come here. Touch Me. Connect with Me." He knows you by name. He knows your address. He knows your e-mail number. He knows the house you live in, the bed you sleep in. He knows you and He calls you by name and He's asking you to accept Him as your Savior. He died on a cross for you, He rose again, He's alive. Let Him come into your heart, become a follower, allow Him to save your immortal soul today. It's simply a matter of saying, "I accept You, Jesus Christ. I accept You. I've had it up to here with skepticism and cynicism and I think I know all the answers and I don't know anything. And You know everything." Jesus, I'm going to take the religion You had, I'm going to take the faith You had, I'm going to take You as my Lord and my Savior. And You'll keep your promise. He who lives and believes in me shall never die. And when my time comes, and it will, when my time to die comes, and it will, and when I have to pass from this life beyond, I will not be afraid for I know You'll be waiting and take me into Your eternal kingdom of heaven. What? What? Do I believe it? I'd die for it. It's the truth. Get in on it, become, live and walk in the winner's circle. Happy Easter.

The Lord bless you and the Lord open your heart. May the Lord write your name in His book today. And may you know it was on Easter and you made the most important decision of your life: you decided to begin to live. Amen.