Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
He is risen
the resurrection of Jesus Christ meant that things in the religious world
and our own personal world
Would never be the same
this historic event changes everything in life
everything having to do with our physical death
and the reality of eternal life
the first to arrive at the tomb
were two women
God choose them to be his first witnesses to the world concerning his resurrection
there was no mistake
there was no conspiracy there was no doubt
Jesus had resurrected from the dead
God's resurrection power is the focus of our time together this Easter Sunday morning
please open up your Bible pull out your message outlines and follow along as I begin reading
Matthew
twenty-eight
verse one
early on Sunday morning as the new day was dawning Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb
Suddenly there was a great earthquake
For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven
Rolled aside the stone and sat on it
His face shone like lightning and his clothing was as white as snow
but guards shook with fear when they saw him and they fell into a dead faint
then the a angel spoke to the women
Don't be afraid, he said
I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified
he isn't here he has risen from the dead just as he said what happened
Come see where his body was lying
and now
go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead
and he is going to head of you to Galilee
you will see him there
remember what I have told you
the women ran quickly from the tomb they were very frightened but also filled with great
joy and they were rushed to give the disciples the angels message
and as they went
Jesus
met them and greeted them they ran into an grasped his feet and worshiped him
and then Jesus said to them
Don't be afraid
go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee and they we'll see me there
I haven't seen my son James in quite some time
he'd been trailing after Jesus of Nazareth
he believed that Jesus was the messiah
he wanted so desperately to be involved with the messiah, when he was younger James would
sit on grandfather's knee and listen to the stories of Abraham and Isaac
When he asked a question grandfather thought he should figure for himself he would simply wink at him and
say James, you tell me
later
I was thinking on these things went dark afternoon when James came running to the house telling
me I must hiding him
Jesus had been arrested and was to be crucified
they were looking for his followers
of course I hide my son
and waited anxiously for the crucifixion to be over
and the day of Passover and its peace, to begin
I had always dreamed of having a son
A son that I could raise
I remember this as a boy, I didn't have a father and instead of making me bitter
It just reinforce these feelings
I married my childhood and high-school sweetheart Helen and she wanted kids as much as I did
she was
awesome when I married her she's incredible now
at the end of our first year of marriage
we had baby girl, Helen
she's twelve now and changing and growing in many different ways
two years after her birth
Came Mary she is now nine, she's a troublemaker
but I would have her any other way either
six years into our marriage
my wife
gave me beautiful identical twin girls
I have four loving daughters I can't imagine A day without any of them, and still
I long for a son, a son I might guide
into manhood
I began to think on the things that heard Jesus says
Some were saying it was ridiculous to crucify a man for preaching love and peace but
brotherly love and courteous peace were not by Jesus was preaching
his words were dangerous
he spoke of God
as his father
he spoke of a commitment to love beyond brotherly bonds
He didn't claim to delivers from Rome but from Satan
we create many earthly neighbors and enemies we decide who is for us and against us based on
their color, their political stance
and the way they treat us
but Jesus said
our enemy was anyone who followed the father of lies and their brother was anyone who followed
him
Jesus
dangerous words
Exciting words
Helen said she wanted one more baby, I was thrilled
although I did do my best to give my desire for a boy over to Jesus
halfway through the pregnancy there are some complications, blood work showed that, so the
doctor ordered an ultrasound
it was a boy
she was carrying my son
I was going to have this son that
I could shower this incredible love on
and if you can imagine we followed the rest of the pregnancies zealously
four weeks before her due date she was bed bound I wouldn't even let it get up and
go to the bathroom changing their bed pan with a labor of love of love from my promised
son
the longer I followed him the more my love for him grew
I'd wait for him all my life, the messiah
and Jesus was the messiah this I knew
he changed my name from Simon to Peter the rock
one day He asked us
what people were saying about Him, who they said that he was
so we told him
some say you are John the Baptist
others Elijah
but they're still say Jeremiah or one of the prophets
Then he look right at me and said what about you
who you say that I am
spoke from the heart I said you are the Christ
you are the son of the living God
on this rock he said I will build my church
and then I understood
all he wanted to hear from you is that confession
he knew it was from my soul
I knew then I would do anything for him
I became a Christian about
six months ago
it happened at a youth group my friend brought me to
I always
I'd always knew that I'd be missing something
And I was
totally stoked to know that Jesus was it
I felt this mystery come alive within my own heart
Jesus is my savior the creator of the universe
Came into my heart
to redeem me
and give me eternal life
it's overwhelming how much he loves me how much he loves us
He just wants us all to accept him
Then Jesus was arrested
I followed the guards quietly around the side of the prison walls to an area where others had gathered
I needed to stay around until morning to see what they were to do with him
somehow it got around that I go to church at my school
One of my brothers, Chris asked me about it
after he asks this people started gathering around my desk until
crowd of them
they weren't exactly what you would call friends but
I hung out with a couple times and
I knew that they believed in
girls
Money, sports
after
awhile Chris asked the question again
so do you believe in all this religious stuff
so it's just try to fit in with the servants and the slaves of the high priest
We were warming ourselves by the fire
Trying not to draw attention to myself and my Galilean accent when One of the slave girls recognize me
one of the girls giggled
I've been exploring
spirituality I said
you can almost feel the tension in the room when Chris asked
so is Jesus Lord?
Then she said in a loud voice you I saw you with Jesus aren't you one of his disciples
I don't know him
when Helen went into labor I held her hand
and I stayed with their she labored for many hard hours
The doctor pulled me aside
And began talking to me
I wasn't following all the medical terms but there was concern
and that confused me,after all we had gone through this three times before
eventually he stopped looking in the eye and said
I'm sorry
we've done all we can do
the boy is going to die
I had named him Matt
it means a gift from God
I followed the doctor down the hallway aimlessly until he went into the surgical suite with
my wife and I
I broke down and sobbed
Then I said goodbye, Matt
goodbye
to my son
and I cried
tears that
he would never know I cried for him
suddenly the sky screamed
As it's very elements seemed to shatter the ground heaved in pain and anticipation
and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom as if by God's very own
hand
I fell to my knees and waited for death
I don't know how long I lay there but something urged me to finally
lookup
and I saw my dead my grandfather walking to greet me
he looked beautiful, radiant, alive
No, I am not a vision
he seemed to read my mind
I have com simply to tell you to believe
He was, He is, and He
Is to come
I gasped for air trying to make sense
then he went
And left
Then I thought about my God
And the anguish
He must know I was going through for he went through the same sacrificing, willingly, his son for
the lives of so many
eventually I
composed myself
and went home to gather the girls
so I could bring them back to the hospital
so they could be with their mother when she woke up
so I'd heard Jesus was gone from the tomb
I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, I had to see for myself
when I got there
It was empty
The stone was rolled away
He was gone
we did know what to do
we're all huddled later in a small room the door locked so the guards couldn't find us
Then there he was
Jesus appeared to us
he reminded us what needed to be done in order to fulfill the Scriptures
we rejoice in this knowledge and understanding
I ran to tell James but he had already left
I rejoiced to know he had gone to join the other disciples
and to follow the one who is to come
for I knew in my heart that Jesus is the messiah
the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a change
It's a whole new
order of things
not only religiously
because now religion is defined
as a personal relationship with the risen Lord
but it also means a change for us
a radical change
a paradigm shift
Joel Barker has
popularized that particular phrase
Future Edge, his book discovering the paradigm shifts of success
points out just what we've been living
over the last twenty years
a
Revolution in technology
who would have never thought
who would have ever thought
everything from
the shift from
Swiss made movements in watches to digital watches
shifts from a phones with a cord to
a phone without a cord
a computer that use to fill a room when I was in college I now carry
in my hand
not just
a tiny bit of change
but a radical, profound
dramatic change
the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a dramatic
life-changing
destination all-terrain reality
historical reality
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb
Now they knew
which tomb to go to
they were there when Jesus was
laid in the tomb
They knew the right tomb
because there were guards posted there and a seal put on the stone
Oh, they arrived at the right place all right
An angel said come and see where the body was lying
now go quickly and tell the disciples that he has risen from the dead
Jesus' resurrection power
on Friday we understood the profound love that God has for us
on Easter Sunday morning
we'd come to understand the dynamic power
that God wants to release in our lives
Jesus himself said that
well in John ten ten that his purpose in coming was to give us a rich and satisfying
life
who wouldn't want a
rich satisfying life
who wouldn't want a life
lived according to
God's purpose
fueled by God's power
what would it be like
to experience the paradigm shift of God's
transformational power in our life
one person who recorded it in the new testament was the great
evangelists an apostle Paul
and second Corinthians five seventeen he describes it
I once mistakenly thought of Christ in only human terms
how differently I feel now
when someone comes to know Christ personally
like I have
they become a
brand new person on the inside
they are not the same anymore a new
life
has begun
a new life
we could all use a new life at least here and there
in our life
God came to this planet
so that we could enjoy the life so that we could become the better people
that God created
us and fashioned us to be
who here this morning
doesn't need at least a
a little changing
Jesus Christ came and his power
was released
a power to transform our lives from the inside out
Christ came so that
he could change our life for the better
it's interesting how we feel about the change that we need in our life
most of us
want to resist the reality that we even need to
change at all we often go through life with blinders on
that resistance shows itself in
a couple of different ways
one is we often give up hope that our life can be any better
we say to ourselves you know we've been this way a long-time it's the way I have always
been
and always is a long time for some of us
some of us say well, that's just the way my people are
my people have always been this way I'm German we're hotheads
Right? We're like Italians but we don't move our hands
we lose hope
it's not as though we haven't tried but
Transformation, real change hasn't come to our life
that often moves
us to the stage of denial
we deny that we really need any change at all because we're all hopeless that it could
happen
and what we do is we numb ourselves to the reality that change needs to occur in
our life
what's interesting is
Well, we're very good it's sizing up
the change that needs to happen in everybody else
but ourselves, why?
denial
it's either to desperate or it hurts too much
to look at the fact that I need change
real change on the inside of my life
some of us are under the illusion
that somehow we can bring about
transformation in our life all on our own
we can just
go to that
book store and buy a self-help book and that will be the key
but what do we do when we bought the book
And sure life has gotten up a little bit better but real change
a paradigm shift change in this area or that area of my life not that sure hasn't happened
at least
not for very long
and that's because will power is just not that
powerful
not powerful enough to truly change us on the inside
and what would it be like
for God to truly change us on the inside
Steven Covey is right if you want to change the fruit you've got to change the root
and that's what God wants to do in our life
he wants to change the root
the core
of our inter being
and when he
Transforms us and the fruit that we bear
Well, here's the list
raise your hand when I get to the fruit you don't want in your life for you
help me out that way this morning
but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives
love
Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness
Faithfulness, gentleness
self control
those are all things that we want
and we need in our life in fact those are the things that were striving for hoping for
will be the reality of our life and you are not the only one hoping for that
those that brought you here today are hoping that as well
we not only need change but
we need to change for those around us as well
Because whose relationship
wouldn't be better with other people with coworkers with neighbors and friends
with the fruit of the Holy Spirit
hanging
from the words and actions
and thoughts of their life
some of us can't move forward we need the resurrection power of Jesus Christ
To release us of our guilt
Yea, we've all made mistakes
we've all made bad choices we've done wrong in our life
in some of us, many of us can not get by the guilt and shame
that those mistakes
Those miscues
had made in our life in fact, some of us hold on to our guilt
until it kill us
when it comes to guilt we're a little bit like
the monkeys in Africa that had overrun a particular village
monkeys were everywhere they were getting into everything
The leaders got together and said we've got to do something with them
but what should we do
in one of the hunters knew exactly what to do
you take a half a coconut and hollow it out
you bore a little hole
That is barely big enough for a monkey's and to get through
you tie
a rope or a tether
on through and
onto the coconut
and place it faced down with the banana underneath it
the monkey comes along gets it hand through the whole in grabs a hold of the banana
then all you need to do
is pull
on the tether
because the monkey
will not let go
of the banana, for anything
the proof that they won't is that
some of the monkeys pulled hard enough that they brought the tether it took off into the
jungle
hunters later came across the dead bodies of monkeys
still clutching
a decayed banana in their hand
some of us needs to learn how to let go
all of our guilt
and we can't
often do
that on our own
we need a little divine help
we need God's forgiveness
because we believe and it's not untrue that we've not only failed someone else and ourselves
but we need failed God's holy standard
God's loving standard
but what does Jesus say the each
one of us
I will forgive your sins and will remember them no more
when Jesus Christ died on the cross
he died on the cross for your imperfections your sins, your failures your bad past
and now on Easter Sunday He wants to give you resurrection he wants to release you from
that backpack of guilt
That you've carried into the service today
you can take that backpack off
you can't leave your guilt here today because God's power
not only forgives you but God's power allows you to
Feel that forgiveness
third thing that Christ resurrection power helps us with is to stand strong in the storms
of life
the storms of life come in many different shapes don't they
divorce
financial ruin
a report from the doctor of our ill health
rejection by someone we love, the death of someone we love
those are the events
of life that
shake us to the ground that knock us down
make us hurts
can anybody
calm those kinds of storms in our life
Well, Jesus is good and calming storms
Luke chapter eight
a squall arose
on the lake
everyone in the boat was in great danger, we're going to die
They said
have you ever
said that in the storm of life
I'm going to die
you know it would be just fine if I died because then the storm would be over
and so Jesus stood and commanded the wind to stopped
and it did
Jesus wants to
calm the storm of your life and he says stop
And it does
I'm not saying you won't have storms in your life if you allow the power of Jesus Christ
to be present in your life all I can tell you is that you will be able to stand
up to the storms of life because when you get knocked down
Jesus Christ will be there
To pick you up
and walk with you each
and every day
this is how the great king David penned it
Psalm twenty three four
even when I walked through the darkest valleys of life
I will not be afraid for you
are close
beside me
through the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
is close
beside us
your presence here this morning is not by accident
God knew before he put the foundations of the world in their place that you would be here
today
he has brought you here today because he wanted you to hear this great paradigm shift message
that Christ has come into the world any wants to come into your world, into your life
so that you would have a rich and full life
that you would spend eternity with Him
And He proves that out
he changes us from the inside dramatically more than we ever imagined
he releases us of the guilt
and shame that we feel about our mistakes because there isn't anything you've done
that Jesus Christ won't forgive
and he's a God that
not only leads us up to the green pastures and the refreshing waters of life but when
we walk through the valley
Of the shadow of death
he walks with us
when the storms of life knock us down
He helps us up
who here today
couldn't use that kind of God
In their life, let us pray
Lord, your resurrection power jobs the historical reality of your resurrection that's
it's beyond our capacity to fully understand
but yet Lord that doesn't mean that
there aren't things to learn
and to know
and to respond to
and Lord you know who we are and what we're about more than even we know ourselves
Lord, you know the change that we need in our life
what fruit of the Holy Spirit is absent or or puny
in our life
Lord, you know how shameful and guilty we feel about things that we've said and done and
thought in our life and
we need to know that you don't hold that against us
that when you died on the cross you died on the cross for our sins too
and Lord for each one that's here today that's
experiencing a storm in their life Lord, I'd pray that you could
lavish your power in your presence upon them that Lord they would know
that you're holding them that you walk with them each and everyday
Lord let us be people
that know your power
and your resurrection
your new life
your eternal life
today. Amen
Translate this message into another language. Translating into these different languages is easy. Examples are Africanns Albanian Shqipe Arabic Belarusian Bulgarian Catalan Chinese Han Croatian Hrvatski Czech Danish Dansk Estonian Eesti Filipino Finnish Suomi French Galician Galego German Deutsch Dutch Nederlands Greek Haitian Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Magyar Icelandic Bahasa Indonesia Indonesian Irish Gaeilge Italian Italiano Japanese Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Bahasa Melayu Maltese Malti Norwegian Norsk Persian Farsi Polish Polski Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Español Swahili Kiswahili Swedish Svenska Thai Turkish Türkçe Ukranian Vietnamese Welsh Cymraeg Yiddish Gott Gud Isten Bhagawan Boze Bog Deus Allah Dio Dios Dieu Dieus Jumala Khudah Perendise Perendia Yesu Masiha Kami Sama Isa al Maseeh Kristus Jesu