Grandpa Whit’s Easter Sermon Series

Looking for peace and comfort, I was drawn back to my Grandpa Whit’s sermon collection with an intention of updating a devotion I started. What a joy it was to discover a file marked “Easter.”

It is extraordinary to have this rich body of work to study at time when our world is in need of hope that all will be well and knowing that whatever approach you make to the life of Christ, there is a cross that says love is the most powerful thing in the world.

I plan to update the collection for blog posts to this website and include the completed series in the 2^nd edition of “Grandpa’s Whit and Wisdom.”

“Look to the Cross” is the first sermon in Grandpa’s Easter series and is also among the shortest. I am guessing he drew a lot of his message from the worship music that day and didn’t write as much in his journal. Grandpa was urging the church to …

 “Seek the meaning of the cross. Seek Jesus for Jesus’ sake and you will find the eternal symbol of your faith, hope, love and salvation. Jesus accepted the cross that was meant for evil. And thus we will discover that we must share with him the burden in the redemption of our fellows was all the realm of nature.

Will you see him? If and when you do, you must exchange your easy cushion for the cross.”

In Grandpa’s journal he jotted the lyrics from hymns including “When I Survey the Wonderous Cross” by Issac Watts:

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

The next hymn must have been “In the Cross of Christ I Glory” written by John Bowring because Grandpa jotted this into his sermon notes.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o’er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o’ertake me,
hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
never shall the cross forsake me.
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

Searching online for resources, I came across this song, “Look to the Cross” by Hillsong London that captures the essence of Grandpa’s message. Take a moment to listen.