Easter Day

*Opening Prayer

*Call to Worship

L: We run to the tomb

to be forever surprised.

P: Christ is risen!

L: Through our tears of sorrow and despair,

we don’t recognize him.

P: Christ is risen!

L: Then he calls us by name.

P: Christ is risen!

L: We run into the world announcing,

“We have seen the Lord!”

P: Christ is risen!

Hymn #216: Christ Arose

Scripture Reading

John 20:1-18 -- Dean

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Children's Message - Kolaya

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

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3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,  and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

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9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

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The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Co 15:1–11.

Sermon

Have you ever had someone ask you, “if you could go back in time, who would you like to meet?” Or, “if you could go back in time, what time would you want to go to?” And I think that if I had a time machine, I would want to go to this early in the morning on the first day of the week. I would love to be an observer as those women made their way with the spices to the tomb. To see the looks on their faces as they saw the stone rolled away. To watch John and Peter run to the tomb to find it empty. To hear their conversation. I would love to be there for the first conversation between Jesus and Mary. I would love to be among the very first witnesses of a resurrected Jesus Christ.

Because it seems to be that is where some people struggle. Most historians agree that there was in the early first Century a man named Jesus Christ. Some might willingly affirm the stories that were told about Him have some merit, some point of truth.

But really, to raise up from the dead. I mean, we have probably never seen that and probably never will. And if we did it would scare us half to death. I’m not talking about someone who is nearly dead and revived in a few moments, but someone who has been dead for three days. So it’s understandable why some might come to this part of the story and say, “Yeah, sure.” It’s understandable why some might be sceptical about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul, in writing to the church in Corinth gives us three specific reasons why we can believe in the resurrection, and affirm it is absolutely true.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a part of the message of the gospel. Paul says, “I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.” Paul’s message was not only a detailing of Jesus Christ’s birth and life, but also of His death and His resurrection. Paul spent more time talking about what Christ did on the cross and the resurrection three days later than he did talking about anything else. His message was always pointing his listener to the resurrected Christ.

The testimony of those who did see Jesus after His death and resurrection. Again, Paul tells the Corinthians that Jesus appeared first to Peter, then the twelve disciples, then to 500 of the brothers and sisters, meaning other believers, other followers. James saw Him alive, so did the apostles, and finally Paul himself. I’m not entirely sure how many people that is in total, but how many people do we need to hear from to believe something is true. Some people believe everything they read on Facebook. Some people believe everything they read in the tabloids at the checkout counter of the local grocery store. Here, we have somewhere between 500 and 600 people testifiying to seeing Jesus alive after His crucifixion, and people still say, “Yeah right?”. Really?

And the change it made in Paul’s life. He had been a persecutor of those who followed Christ. He was on his way to kill some in Damascus when the resurrected Christ stopped him in his tracks and changed his life. To the church in Corinth Paul writes, “by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.” Paul recognizes that his encounter of the living Christ changed his life. It literally revolutionized him.

If we had a time machine this morning and could go back in the past, I am certain that those 500+ people Paul listed would echo his sentiment. The resurrected Jesus changed my life. And not only those, but the people who heard their witness, their testimony, their message. The churches we read about in the New Testament, including Corinth were begun by those who had encountered the living Christ and whose lives were transformed. They in turn told others, who in turn encountered Christ, who in turn told others, who in turn encountered Christ, and over and over again, until we get to you and to me.

Some of you this morning know exactly what I’m talking about because you too have encountered the living, resurrected Jesus Christ. Not in bodily form like those Paul mentioned, but you have experienced His grace and His mercy. You know your lives have been changed and transformed. You aren’t who you once were and the only identifiable difference is that you accepted Christ.

But perhaps there is someone here today who doesn’t know what I’m talking about. Maybe you came to church today because it’s Easter and you thought you should come. Maybe you came because someone invited you, or drug you to church. Maybe you think life is pretty okay and you are doing fine. But maybe there is also a feeling that sits in the back of your mind and says, “Is this all there is? Is this really as good as life gets?”

If you think that life might be even a little bit better if you gave your heart to Christ, I want to challenge you this morning to do exactly that. I want to invite you to encounter the resurrected Christ this morning and see how your life can be changed.

In Christ Alone

Sharing of Joys and Concerns

Because He Lives

#213, v. 1

Silent Prayer

Pastoral Prayer

Lord's Prayer

Giving of Tithes and Offering

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

He Lives

#220

*Benediction

Blest Be The Tie That Binds

F

#286

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.