Rolling Stones

Good morning children of God! I am excited this morning! He is Risen this morning! This is not just some statement we make recognizing that Jesus came out of the tomb. Jesus IS still the risen King, He IS the risen Truth, and He IS the risen Life, Amen? Today is a day of renewal, rebirth, and hope. It is a time to look inward and seek the ongoing cleansing of God.

We can not look at the empty tomb of Christ without first looking at the cross. On Good Friday, roughly two thousand years ago, our savior bore the sins of all mankind on the cross. Shamed for loving you and me! Beaten and brutalized for loving you and me! Crucified for loving you and me!

The first thing Jesus does from the cross is asks God to forgive the people who ridiculed him, tortured him, and crucified him. To forgive you. To forgive me. Then, He looks over at the thief on his right. Jesus did not say “you took too long to come to me.” “Your faith is weak.” “You are a terrible person. I can not even be in your presence!” No, he said “This day you will be with me in paradise.”

Our Messiah loved you enough to die for you so that you could know Him now, and be with Him in the Kingdom of Glory! Now, as incredible as that is, as mind blowing, as incomprehensible as that is, the eternal love Jesus has for you and me did not end there!

What occurred this day, on Resurrection Sunday, two thousand years ago, was the pinnacle of 33 years of life on earth, three years of ministry, countless prophecies fulfilled, miracle after miracle performed. Today we celebrate the event that shook the foundations of the world, the event that our faith, Christianity, hinges on.

Resurrection Sunday is the day that Jesus Christ proved to the world that he is God. The day he proved to you that he loves you so much that he will never leave you nor forsake you. Full Stop. Jesus cashed a check that only He could cash. So important is the resurrection of Christ that the Apostle Paul says:

1 Corinthians 15:13–14 NLT

13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.

Simply stated, if Jesus is not the Risen King, if the resurrection did not happen, our faith is worthless. If the resurrection of Christ is a lie, then the entirety of the Bible is a lie.

The Apostle Paul goes on to tell us in 1 Corinthians 15:19:

1 Corinthians 15:19 NLT

19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

Our hope is in the Truth of His resurrection. Our faith goes well beyond the cross. A lot of believers STOP at the cross. “Jesus died for me.” “Jesus carried my sins away” That is true, but Jesus did that for you so that you could move forward in a relationship with Abba Daddy, with God! The cross is the beginning of our journey, it is not the end. The resurrection is the journey and the destination for believers. We do not worship a dead Savior this morning. Jesus is alive and well in the Kingdom of Heaven, in the place of honor, at the right hand of the Father.

Hear me when I say this; The bones and remains of Buddha can be found in different shrines across India, Afghanistan, and China. If you go to those shrines, they will tell you “Here lie the remains of the Buddha.”

You can go to the tomb of Mohammed in Saudi Arabia, and they will tell you, “Here lie the bones of the great prophet.”

The remains of Abraham and Muhammad and Buddha and Confucius and Lao Tzu are all still here on earth. But if you go to the tomb of Jesus Christ, they will tell you, “Here lie the bones of no one. He is not here. He is risen, as he said he would.”

Skeptics have been trying to find the body of Christ for millennia! They will never find his body. Our Savior is RISEN! The message from the empty tomb is a message of hope! It is a message of new life, a better life, and eternal life. It is an invitation to come out of the graves of our own lives. The tombs we have convinced ourselves that we are trapped in at times. So we can know Him, walk with Him, and live in the Truth that is Jesus Christ!

Let’s look at what happened on Resurrection Sunday.

Luke 24:1 NIV

1 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.

So you have Mary (the mother of Jesus), Mary Magdalene, and Salome (mother of the Zebedee boys, the sons of thunder). They are fully expecting to find the body of Jesus Christ. They were expecting their Kings body to be laying in that tomb, dead. The spices they prepared were not to embalm, but to reduce the smell of a decomposing body.

They had walked with Jesus, yet their faith was challenged, they were anxious, they where hurting, and they were afraid. They watched Jesus die. I have mad respect for these three women! All the tough guys and big talkers scattered at the cross. These three women and John remained at the cross.

I can not tell you how many times it comes up in conversation with other believers. When we talk about the disciples and followers of Christ, people will say things like “They were with Jesus, they walked with Jesus!” “They saw the miracles.” “How could they not know!” Well, let me challenge that thought process this morning. Unlike the disciples, we have the whole story, beginning to end, yet we still speak and behave terribly at times, and we absolutely know better.

We fall short when we keep things locked away in the tombs of our hearts. We buy the lies of the enemy that we are supposed to hide those things, to keep those things sealed away in the dark rather than bring them into the light of Christ. God knows what you are keeping locked away in your tomb. He knows what you are struggling with this morning. He wants you to come out of the tomb, and leave the garbage behind.

Mark 16:3 NIV

3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

Mary, Salome, and Mary desperately wanted to do one final thing for a Person they loved dearly. They fully believed, before they arrived, that Jesus was dead and that a stone would be blocking their way. Let’s talk about that stone for just a minute.

Tomb stones back then weighed well over a ton. They were as big as a cartwheel. What they would do is carve a groove in front of the entrance to the grave and then roll the stone down into the groove. In Jesus case, they also cemented it to the wall, put the seal of Caesar on it (if you broke the seal of Caesar, you were done), and set a Roman patrol to guard the grave. It would take more than just a couple of strong dudes to move that stone and not be noticed.

That is our problem at times too. We want to go to the LORD, we want to do what we know is right, but we allow the heaviness of those stones in our lives to keep us away from Jesus Christ. We make excuses or we try to justify the things we say or do. It’s as if we are guarding our own tombs against God.

Many of us, in our pain, in our fear, in our weakness, in our doubt, refuse to worship or go to the cross, even in the safety of our own churches! We refuse to seek counsel from other believers. We see it, week after week, month after month, and year after year.

People who want to ask for prayer, and do not.

People who refuse to forgive.

People who refuse to seek forgiveness.

People who want to stand and praise His name, but remain seated.

People who want to come down to the alter, and pour their heart out to the Father, but stop at the last second.

Brothers and sisters, this is the place for us to allow God to roll those stones away! Look around you! You are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses this morning. None of us have the power to do it alone. But God, God is the mover of the immovable. You are not facing anything new to God. And knowing the witness of so many people in this church, I doubt you are facing a trial that a brother or sister here has not walked through with Jesus at some point.

Mark 16:4 NLT

4 But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.

The stone was rolled away. Jesus Christ, our LORD and Savior is risen. Think about this for a moment; That stone was not rolled away so Jesus could get out. Jesus did not need help getting out of the tomb. It was rolled away so that we could see in.

Jesus wanted us to see in the tomb, to see that He is the risen King. He fulfilled a promise that nobody believed He could fulfill. The Holy Spirit raised Him. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf. To give you hope and to give you life abundantly.

Resurrection Sunday is the day that we celebrate our risen King. That through Him, you have not only died to the old man or woman, but you have been raised in new life! If you are questioning your worth, if you are questioning your value, if you are feeling rejected, I want to remind you this morning: Jesus Christ died for you, but bigger than that, He overcame death for you! You are loved, you are valued, and Jesus says that you are worth everything to Him.

Sometimes we all find ourselves back in the tomb, sometimes daily! The truth is that God has already rolled the stones away in our lives. The stones of doubt, the stones of fear, the stones of unforgiveness, the stones of shame, the stones of sin. Jesus has freed us. Jesus came to set the captives free. He provides the way out. It is a choice, it is a decision to remain in the tomb or to get up, leave the trash behind, and walk out into His glorious light. To know Him and to love Him.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior this morning, ask Jesus into your heart. If you have questions, please come see me, or Pastor Dakota, or Pastor Paul after service. Maybe today is the day you want to recommit yourself to the Lord. This might even be the day that you decide to finally let go of what you have kept in your tomb for so long, and leave it at the cross.

Communion/Worship Team

We are going to take communion today. As you take the bread symbolizing His body broken for you, as you take of the juice symbolizing His blood poured out, sealing His covenant promise with you, remember Him, and ask yourself;

What is keeping me from coming out of the grave this morning? What have I refused to let go of this morning? What is keeping me from living my best life for Christ? Bring those things to the Father this morning. I promise, you will not shock God.

When we have lunch together today, sit with someone you do not usually sit with, talk with someone you do not usually talk to. Let’s edify and know one another the way Jesus Christ intended. God bless you this morning. Will you come?