Easter Sunday 2024
The Kingdom of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
The Cross and the Resurrection Together are the ‘good news’
The Cross and the Resurrection Together are the ‘good news’
Everything we believe as Christ followers, it ties back to these two pivotal events.
In the cross, we have total and complete forgiveness.
But the cross is only one part of the message. The resurrection (that we celebrate today) is the other. And the picture is complete when we have both
Our life only finds meaning in light of the resurrection of Jesus
Our life only finds meaning in light of the resurrection of Jesus
Paul teaches - that we can’t face this world with only human hopes.
I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
We need to learn to view the world through the lens of the empty tomb.
In the cross of Jesus, we are offered a way back to God. But in the resurrection of Jesus, we are offered an entirely new way to live our lives.
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
How would we live if sickness, pain, and death, can’t even sting us - let alone claim us?
That old song - ‘because He lives, I can face tomorrow’. The Resurrection of Jesus is the brightest light in our history, and it’s only in walking by that light that we can actually FACE tomorrow. Everything else is darkness.
Our faith only has an impact in light of the resurrection of Jesus
Our faith only has an impact in light of the resurrection of Jesus
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
Jesus didn’t call us to feel-good faith. He didn’t call us to a list of recommendations for actions.
Rather, God built up all of human history to this point - and then pivoted the entire thing. Everything in existence falls into one of two places - before the death and resurrection of Jesus, and after.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
He called us to death to ourselves, spiritual life now, and physical resurrection later.
And this calling is not without the power to back it up.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
God has a new life for every single one of us - no matter what
God has a new life for every single one of us - no matter what
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.