Resurrection Day

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Mark 16 NLT

9 ¶  After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons.

·        Sunday – the new day of rest.

·        Those who have been forgiven much, love much. (Luke 7:47)

·        Why did Jesus appear first to Mary Magdalene? Because she was there.

o   If we wish to be a part of Jesus doing miracles, we need to be present at the place where miracles are happening.

o   If we want a paycheck, we need to show up at work.

·        Jesus didn’t come to Mary … Mary went to Him!

o   She didn’t give up on her dream of serving Him.

o   She was committed to serve Him in life and in death, in the good days and in the difficult times.

10  She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened.

·        Everyone handles grief differently.

·        I am often sad about a circumstance or situation, but I have learned to not allow myself to be worried, become afraid, or get depressed.

·        The disciples were worried, afraid, and dysfunctional.

·        While Mary was working, the disciples were weeping.

·        While Mary was going, the disciples were grieving.

11  But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.

·        This event is a picture of what world evangelism is like.

·        It is repeated over and again each day

·        People sent like Mary was to go and tell … they go and tell the lost and hurting, the fearful and worried … and often people refuse to believe.

·        So, what does Jesus do? He just keeps sending more witnesses …

12  Afterward he appeared in a different form to two of his followers who were walking from Jerusalem into the country.

·        According to Luke (Chapter 24) these two followers were aware of Mary’s story and how she claimed to have seen Jesus alive … but they didn’t believe her.

·        Jesus is not going to stop trying to get through to you at the first no.

·        Jesus appeared to these two men personally … He walked with them and talked with them … and finally they believed.

·        What was the first thing they wanted to do?

13  They rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.

·        The 11 disciples were determined to wallow in their misery and no amount of encouragement from friends was going to make things better.

·        “Pray for me.” “Quote scriptures to me.” “Tell me the testimony of how God helped you in your time of need.” And try hard to make me feel better … but I’m not going to let go of my pain, my worry and disappointment. “My dream died!” (Yep … and one day you are going to die too … get over it! Get up and get back into the game.)

·        The disciples still didn’t believe … “no one believed them.”

·        But guess what … Jesus is not going to stop at the second “no” either.

14 ¶  Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.

·        Misery loves company … “they were eating together” … Be careful when you’re hurt, sad, or fearful that you don’t surround yourself with hurt, sad, and fearful people.

·        Notice – they weren’t too sad to eat …

·        Jesus appeared to them and He wasn’t all that happy.

·        When I see Jesus, I hope the first thing He does is hug me with a smile on His face instead of rebuke me for being hard hearted and stubborn.

·        They finally saw past their sorrows when they saw Jesus.

John 20:29  Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

The resurrection of Jesus sets Him apart from every other religious martyr people have claimed to be their God. Jesus is alive. We have the written records and sworn testimonies of several eyewitnesses. This well-documented historical fact has completely changed the world in the past 2000 years.

The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the most told story in every generation since. And the Bible is the most sold, the most read, the most quoted, and the most followed book ever in the history of the world.

I’ve been to the Garden Tomb, and I am here to tell you He is not there, Jesus is alive! I believe the witness of Mary and the story of the two men on the road to Emmaus, and the accounts of the disciples. Plus, I’ve experienced the life change that comes from knowing Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord.

You can know Him today by simply inviting Him into your heart. He will hear your prayer and forgive you of your sins and save your soul. Everything begins to change, just like it did for the disciples, when you believe. For the lost and hurting today; for the worried and fearful today; for the disappointed and depressed today:

“Believe upon the name of the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved!” (Acts 16:31)

For those who have already believed … Jesus has a personal word for you today. It’s the same word He spoke to those who believed in Him on that first Resurrection Day.

Mark 16:15  And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”

Tell the Good News everywhere you go this week. Jesus is alive!

Let’s pray …

The Emptiness of Easter

Today we are going to talk about the power of emptiness. That may sound funny because empty things are usually void of power. Not only that, we typically don’t celebrate things that are empty. 

•  Empty gas tank = stress

•  Empty bank account = worry

•  Empty house = loneliness

•  Empty toilet paper roll = bad timing

All jokes aside, emptiness usually means that something is missing. However, Easter completely flips that notion. What was empty on that Easter Sunday is exactly what changed everything.

Today we are going to talk about 4 things that we left empty on Easter in order that you and I would experience fullness.

1.    The Empty Cross

The reason there was an empty cross was because Jesus had died. World scholars unanimously agree and do not dispute the two facts that Jesus really lived and that Jesus really died.

Jesus was beaten, whipped to the bone (His flesh torn off of Him), mocked, scorned, crucified, and hung left to die. Jesus was dead within 6 hours. His death was confirmed when both blood and water exited His side after a guard pierced Him with his Roman spear. Separation of blood from serum is one of the strongest legal medical proofs of death.

Upon knowing that His death was near, Jesus was thirsty. A guard gave Him a sip of sour wine through a dirty sponge. After taking His last sips, He shared His final words…

John 19:30 — “It is finished…”

Now why would Jesus say that? Because His work on the cross had been complete. The cross was empty because Jesus finished the work.

Luke 23:52-53 — “52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.”

They took Him down from the cross; that is the body that carried your sin and the body that bore your punishment, it was removed. Why? Because Jesus had paid the price for our sin.

That price was death.

The cross is no longer occupied!

•   He didn’t partially save you

•   He didn’t almost save you

•   Your salvation was totally and completely PAID IN FULL

•   The work of salvation is complete.

•   The cross was left empty because your debt was paid in full.

But how many of you know that if the story ended there, we wouldn’t be here today.

2.    The Empty Tomb

When Jesus was laid in His tomb, there were women who followed to find out where Jesus was laid. On Easter Sunday, they brought spices to where Jesus was at and found the tomb empty. Jesus was nowhere to be found. The text says that these ladies were “perplexed” as to why Jesus’ body was no longer there.

It was at about this two angels appeared before these women and said:

Luke 24:5-6 — “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

The tomb was empty, not because Jesus went missing, but because Jesus was alive! Jesus had been raised from the dead.

This is important!! Because it is upon this event that 12 men surrendered their  lives to spreading the truth of the gospel all around the known world. Not only did they surrender their lives to the telling of the gospel, but even died a grueling death…based upon what they had seen. That is the dead Christ risen from the dead.

It also means that Jesus has proven that He has defeated sin and death. There were other people who were raised back to life from the dead. Lazarus was raised from the dead (John 11:1-44). Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead (Mark 5:35-43). The widow’s son was raised from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). However, their resurrection was different from Jesus’ resurrection.

•   When these people were raised from the dead, they died again.

•   When Jesus raised from the dead, He was raised in newness of life.

•   Therefore, if you believe in Jesus, the resurrection gives us the promise that:

1.     We too will have eternal life

2.     We can walk in new life with Christ today
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can experience true transformation from the inside out.

•   What that means is that you cannot find true life in:

•   Good behavior

•   Career achievements

•   401K

•   Material possessions

•   Personal relationships

•   These are all good things. However, none of these have the power to change us or give us true life.

So that question still echoes today:

•   “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

True life is found in Jesus, who is risen from the dead.

3.    The Empty Grave Clothes

After their encounter with the angel, Mary Magdalene ran back and told Peter and John that the tomb was empty. Peter and John ran back to the scene to see for themselves.

John 20:6-7 — “6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.”

When Jesus rose from the dead, he left the grave clothes behind.

Grave clothes represent the old life that we used to live.

•   Old habits

•   Old desires

•   Old things we used to do

•   All of those things were left behind

•   Colossians 3:1-3
“1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

If you have placed your faith in Jesus, your new life is no longer found here on this earth. Your life is now found in Christ and in the things of God. The resurrected life that we are called to live here on earth is not just about Jesus getting up, its also about what you’re willing to lay down.

4.    The Empty Space (in our heart)

The cross was left empty.
The grave was left empty.
The grave clothes were left empty.

And you know what else was left empty? The space in your heart.

We all know what that emptiness feels like:

•   You can be surrounded by people and still feel alone

•   You can be successful and still feel unsatisfied

•   You can stay busy and still feel unfulfilled

•   We go through life and we try to fill that space in our heart with stuff that we think we make us happy, and yet we are still left feeling empty.

•   Why is that?

Ecclesiastes 3:11 — “He has put eternity into man's heart…”

•   That emptiness that we fill is by design. Our hearts are like a glove that is meant for the hand of God. The problem is that we try to fill a God-sized space with temporary things that just don’t fit. The only thing meant to fit is the hand of God.

•   That is the emptiness of Easter; it is an invitation by God Himself to meet you right where you are.

•   Revelation 3:20 — “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

•   Jesus is standing at the door of our heart, knocking. The emptiness you feel inside of you is the sound of Jesus knocking. He is asking for you to let Him in to your heart.

Will you let Him?

Takeaways:

Because Jesus is risen from the dead…

1.     Your debt has been paid

2.     Death has been defeated

3.     Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart