Resurrection Sunday
Why I Believe in the Resurrection
Sunday, March 31, 2024
HAPPY EASTER AND RESURRECTION SUNDAY!
Welcome! If you are a guest visiting us-WELCOME! I am Pastor Karrie We are so glad to have you all join with us! ….
What a glorious day to gather and celebrate our Messiah, our Savior, and our King is ALIVE! Jesus has risen from the grave and the tomb is empty! Amen!
He is alive and He reigns forevermore! He sits in glory at the right hand of the Father for He accomplished what He was sent for He willingly laid His life down for us, and God glorified Him-making Him High Priest and King over all nations for all eternity!
This is truly a joyous day so let your heart be full of the joy of the Lord, full of the hope of the risen Lord, full of love divine that He showers upon you, and full of gratefulness that we can gather as the Body and freely lift up praises! THIS Easter Sunday, let our faith be strengthened and remember who we serve and who we choose to follow Jesus Christ-our Savior who went to the grave for you and me, so that we may have life and have it to the full! Christ is risen from the grave-the darkness could not withstand the light! Let us believe and let us stand in hope. Christ is our Living Hope and because we have this hope in Him, we can face our tomorrow whatever may come. Because of the hope of Christ, we are secure knowing we have a place with Him for all eternity-secure in knowing we will never be alone or forsaken. Sam and Lu Anne will lead us in praises of this hope we have in Jesus Christ our Savior. Let your hearts be stirred in humble gratitude and let hope rise within you. Let the Living One enter your heart and overwhelm you and sing of the hope you have in Jesus Christ.
pray
Three songs of praise-Because He Lives…
Our message will take us back to that morning when the tomb was found empty and how those closest to Jesus responded. It should cause each of us to question, what do I believe about the resurrection? Do I believe in the resurrection?
I am going to share Why I believe in the resurrection based on what the Scriptures teach me and what Jesus Himself shows me.
Let’s pray. Father what a glorious day You have given us-the day we celebrate Your Son’s resurrection from the grave. Father every Word of Yours from the very beginning has proven true and is consistent. You are who You say you are. You are the Great I AM. You are the living God. You are the resurrected King and Your Son has ushered in a kingdom that can never be shaken or overturned-one built on grace, peace, and truth. You are a God rich in mercy and lovingkindness. You made a way that we could be with you forever and never have to bear separation from you as Jesus did on the cross. Your love is so great and beyond our understanding. Father as we celebrate our Risen King, Your Son, soften our hearts to receive Your truth and salvation in full, open our eyes that we may see the signs that prove the divinity of Christ, and let Your Spirit move in a powerful way in each of us. Give new life to our spirits today! Strengthen us in our faith that we may proclaim Jesus is both Lord and the Resurrected Savior. Let us be certain if this promise is true, we can surely trust in every other promise You speak over our lives Father. Have Your way in our hearts today, Lord. Light a fire in us and show us how You would have us live as Your Church. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Shall we remember that resurrection morning?
Luke 24: 1-12 NIV
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
The signs were there to prove Jesus was alive and rose from the dead! The stone was rolled away, angels were there speaking to the women who professed, “He has risen!” They reminded the women what Jesus spoke to them all before he died. The women then remembered and were filled with excitement!
We read in Matthew 28:8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
I think we might all feel like this if we encountered an angel in our presence speaking to us and the thought that Jesus could really be alive that He said could really be true! A wave of emotions would probably wash over us too!
The disciples questioned-
The disciples didn’t believe the women at first but would we if we were there? They saw Jesus die; they saw him put in the tomb and his lifeless body wrapped in linens. They had to go see for themselves. Peter runs of course in typical Peter style-always out in front. He sees the open tomb; he sees only linen strips left in the tomb and in John 20 we read even more details about what he saw: he *saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.
The head wrapping is separate from the other linens neatly rolled up, and placed in a separate area. Why was this separate and who did this?
Bodies were given a head cloth to cover their face in death and then were covered in linens on top of that over their entire body. What is absolutely amazing here-we don’t want to miss is this scene that Peter sees. The head cloth that was under the other linens was neatly rolled up and set to the side. Do you remember when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and called him out of the tomb, he came out alive with all the linen coverings still on him and needed help getting himself unwrapped.
Here God did the supernatural. We don’t know exactly how but He supernaturally raised Jesus right out of linens that bound His body so they lay exactly where His body was and He Himself was able to take off the cloth over His face. He was not merely resuscitated; He was truly resurrected! He neatly rolled it up like a scroll as a sign for His disciples to see and believe the supernatural and divine took place just as Jesus said it would.
“Tear down this temple and in 3 days I will rebuild it.” The very words He was being mocked for on Good Friday, became reality on Resurrection Sunday.
And yet, we see Peter even after seeing for himself, still wondering what happened.
These signs are for you and me too. God invites us to come to see for ourselves, to come to experience Him for ourselves and to see He is true. His Word says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”
To do this we have to be willing to set aside human reasoning solely and choose to listen and look with our heart. Faith comes from our hearts. You will never encounter the living God fully if you try to find Him with human logic. Who He is, What He has done, and What He can do through us is not logical, it’s not human, it’s supernatural and divine. So we can’t process it all with only human logic. We need divine revelation and we need to step into faith and believe.
So let’s look today as we celebrate with the eyes of our hearts and see what God has been showing us all along about this wonderful day.
What will you choose to believe?
- The Signs Prove His Divinity
God knows our nature and how we doubt. Look the disciples spent 3 years learning from Jesus, hearing all about what was to come and even as it played out-they doubted, they wondered, could this really be? They were human just like you and me. We doubt we question, we wonder.
One of the disciples was known as Doubting Thomas because he too wouldn’t believe what the other disciples came to realize after they encountered their risen Christ. Thomas wasn’t with them and like the disciples who wouldn’t believe the women without seeing for themselves, Thomas too said I’ll have to touch the holes in his body and see for my own eyes to believe.
John 20: 26-29 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
This is faith- choosing to believe, even when we can’t see, even when it doesn’t make sense or we can’t logically figure it out. Faith believes. Jesus says look to the signs; look to the works I did and believe because of them.
John 10: 37-38 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
I have spoken before about the meaning of numbers in the Bible-it’s very interesting to study. The number 7 means complete, whole, and perfect.
Did you know there were 7 miraculous signs Jesus performed during His ministry-each having a significant purpose for God’s divine plan.
- Jesus’ first miracle, turning water into the finest wine at a wedding. His mother asked him to help and he said, “My hour has not yet come.” A foretelling of His hour to come on the cross and a leading up of the beautiful banquet wedding feast that He will hold for us as we gather together one day-only the finest of everything.
- The healing of a Roman official’s son who was at least 10 miles from Jesus’ presence. “Go, and your son will live.” Lesson- Jesus’ Word alone has power and He is God. “the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
- The healing of the paralyzed man at the pool. And the 6th sign, the healing of a man born blind. Both happened on the Sabbath Day-which upset religious leaders but shows Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath as He professed. The man who was given sight immediately worships and praises Jesus as he believed.
- The 4th and 5th signs-feeding over 5,000 people and Jesus walking on water to the disciples. Jesus fulfills the promises of the Old Testament. God fed the Israelites in the desert and parted the waters in the Red Sea for them to pass through. Jesus is sovereign over all creation and able to provide for our every need.
- The final sign before Jesus is sent to the cross is raising Lazarus from the dead. This is what brought the hour or time upon Jesus. For this very miracle, the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead. Lazarus’ sister Martha already believed Jesus was the Messiah and Savior, but here in this act, Jesus calls her to also believe He is the life and resurrection.
Seven supernatural signs performed by Jesus during His ministry that mere man could not do. It was complete, He accomplished all He had come for and the hour had come to finish His work. So, He did the impossible and resurrected Himself from the grave! He told us this too before He died in John 10: 18 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
The Apostle John said in John 20: 30-31 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
The number 33 by the way, the number of years in Jesus’ life on earth also has meaning. It is connected to certain promises of God. The 33rd time Noah's name is used in Scripture is when God makes a special covenant or promise with him. The Eternal promises to not destroy the entire world again with a flood and seals His pledge with the sign of the rainbow (Genesis 9:12 - 16).
The 33rd time Abraham's name is used in the Bible is when Isaac, the child of promise, is born to him when he is ninety-nine years old. Elohim-God’s divine name, appears 33 times in the story of creation.
The 33rd person in the lineage of Jesus from Adam, is King David-the man after God’s own heart.
God is so amazing far beyond anything we can fully comprehend or fathom if we choose to believe and seek His truth-we will never run out of nuggets to discover that testify to His greatness and wonder!
The angels told the women at the tomb who were confused, doubting and wondering what happened. We read in Luke 24: 7-8 Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’
Let us believe.
- He Gives Life- Why do we believe in the Resurrection? Because He promises that as He lives, we too shall live as we believe in Him. He is the giver of life-new life in Him-eternal life that will never perish or fade.
Jesus told us who He is before He died on the cross and the life He breathes into us as we believe. Let’s remember. He revealed His divinity by using the same name God spoke to Moses, stating I AM.. and then going on specifically to share what He offers us as we believe in Him.
I AM… the bread of life-He nourishes us in every aspect; the light of the world-He brings us out of our darkness; the door for the sheep to enter-He is the access to God and provides safe pasture and rest; the resurrection and life-He gives us new spiritual life and resurrects us from the walking dead-spiritually we are dead apart from Him; the Good Shepherd-He watches over us and cares for our every need as we trust in Him; The Way the Truth and the Life-He shows us how to live righteously and gives us a path to follow so we should not stumble but learn to live abundantly through Him; the true Vine- He literally is our life source. We wither and die if we are not connected to Him. He is our life, our breath in our lungs.
Notice He professes seven I AM statements about who He is-all pertaining to the life He offers us. Perfect, complete, and whole in Him.
John 6:47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
- He Changes Our Hearts and Purpose
The disciples did question and wonder at first, but then Jesus appeared to them in His resurrected body.
Luke 24: 36-38 36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Jesus was referring to the promise of the Holy Spirit that all Believers today are sealed with. This is how He opens our minds to understand the Scriptures and calls us to a new purpose-to believe in Him and testify to His truth throughout our lives for others to come to know His glory and salvation! He changes us through His Spirit within us!
God spoke of this truth through the prophets before Jesus came:
Ezekiel 36:26 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Jeremiah 31:33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Jesus did this as He appears to two other men walking on the road who were lamenting about His death and the events that took place the last few days. They didn’t have eyes to see who He was at first but He explained the scriptures to them that all point to Jesus. They were grateful and invited this man to stay for dinner with them.
Luke 24: 30-32 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
This is what the Holy Spirit does to you and me yet today, it burns within our heart to reveal the truth of God’s Word and Jesus Christ. He puts a passion in us to build His kingdom and to love others. Our life’s purpose will be greatly changed and clarified as we surrender to fully believe in our Risen Savior. It all becomes very clear what we are here for.
Jesus was asked this question after feeding the 5,000 people, “what are we do to do so we too may do the works of God?” Here is what He said:
John 6:29: The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.
This is the work of God for us yet today, to believe. With all our heart, all our soul and all our mind. Believe Jesus is our Savior who died on the cross and rose again, and as we believe His Holy Spirit will compel us to follow Him to do even greater works than He did!
Conclusion: God calls us to believe in His Son, whom He sent. The Scriptures all testify to Jesus, our Messiah. Let us do the work of God and believe in the One He sent. Let our belief clarify our life’s purpose. Let our purpose drive our daily choices.
Let’s pray. Father we thank you for Your Word that teaches us the Gospel and shows us who Christ is. We thank You for Your Word that is Truth about Your sovereignty, Your goodness and divine purpose, We thank You for Your Word that testifies to Jesus as our Messiah. We thank You that You are a faithful God who holds true to every promise. We thank you that we serve a living God, not one dead in a grave, but alive and reigning for all eternity. We thank you that death has been defeated and has no more sting. We thank You for the promise of eternal life as we believe in Your Son. We are in awe at the wonder of who You are and how You work. Today on the Easter Sunday, as we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus, let our hearts fully believe, let us cast aside any doubt, and let us step fully into Your grace by faith. Let us see the wonders of Your love played out in our lives as we surrender to the teaching of Your Holy Spirit and may Your truth continue to be revealed to us more and more as we seek You. God of wonders beyond our galaxy, You are Holy. Lord of Heaven and earth-we exalt You and lift Your name on high. Let the truth of this resurrection promise strengthen us and remind us of all Your other promises to faithfully watch over us Lord in our times of trouble and uncertainty. In Jesus’ most holy and powerful name we pray and find our hope. Amen.
Are you feeling stirred to follow Christ and truly believe in Him today? If so, act on it. What an awesome day to surrender your heart to Jesus or recommit your heart to Him. He is calling you to open your heart and receive His gift of salvation and love. Simply pray this genuinely from your heart.
New believer prayer. Lord I admit I am a sinner in need of saving. I have turned from you for far too long and left you out of my life. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive them. I believe You truly are the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins and that you took my sins to the grave with you. I believe You are the Resurrected King and that death could not hold you down. I want you to come live in my heart and have your Holy Spirit guide me into truth. I want to live for you, no longer just for myself. I want to be part of your eternal purposes and know You more. Come and live inside me, make my heart your home, and be my Lord and my Savior. Amen.
Offering: We thank you so much for your faithfulness in your tithes and offerings. If you wish to give online please visit our website Living Gospel Church.
Announcements: If you are a new believer please visit our website under the About tab and look for New Believers for more encouragement and ways to keep growing in your faith-we have a page just for you! Please join us again next Sunday!
Prayers?
Final Song led by our children!
Final Blessing: 1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
