Easter 2025

Lost and Restored

Luke 24:1–12 CSB

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. “He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’ And they remembered his words. Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things. But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went away, amazed at what had happened.

Lost and Restored

On Good Friday we looked at the original garden. The place of paradise. The place of belonging. We looked at what it was like to have a perfect

Identity

Freedom

Authority

Power

Safety

Dignity

Provision

Uninterrupted connection to God

But then because of the choice to disobey we lost that. We had goodness and we received:

A confused sense of self or a loss of identity

Captivity and bondage to sin and death

A loss of authority

Limits where we had power

Fear where we had safety

Shame where we had dignity

Sweat where we had provision

A broken connection to God

We detailed these things on Friday. This is what we have apart from Christ. Without Him this is what we live in. We know this. We can look at our own life, we can look at the world around us and see this.

Turn on the news, look on socials, it is not hard to find. When we just look at the original garden we are left distraught. We are left feeling empty, but that is not the whole story.

God made a promise

Genesis 3:15 CSB

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

There was a promise that it would not always be like this.

Here is the glorious truth, Jesus died and rose again. He lived a sinless life. He took on our suffering and broke the bondage we were held in. Jesus did not live and die for Himself but for us. When He came out of the grave He did not just rise but we by faith rise with Him.

Romans 6:4 CSB

Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

Galatians 2:20 CSB

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Colossians 3:3 CSB

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Because Jesus is alive we are alive too. Because He came out of the grave we come out too. Because He rose, we rise!

The grave could not hold Him and it cannot hold us!

We talk about salvation so often as being saved to go to heaven. Yes that is true and that is amazing, I cannot wait for the day when I get to rejoice with Jesus. I cannot imagine what that will be like.

Like the song says,

Surrounded by Your glory What will my heart feel? Will I dance for You Jesus Or in awe of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence Or to my knees, will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine

Oh what a day that will be. But here is thing there is so much available to us right now. Right now we can experience more than we imagine.

Because of the second Garden, because of the resurrection we have

Identity

Freedom

Authority

Power

Safety

Dignity

Provision

Uninterrupted connection to God

All of this is restored.

You have identity

We are children of God.

1 John 3:1 CSB

See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.

We are now children of God and the book of Romans tells us that if we are children we are also heirs. We are called to rule and reign with Christ. What better thing in the world is there than to be a child of God.

If you struggle with identity then get Christ and let Christ get you. There is no greater identity than that. To know that you are loved by the God of the universe is the most incredible thing ever! You are loved and wanted. You are called a son or daughter of the King. You are princes and princesses. This is wild!

You Have Freedom

Outside of Christ we do not have freedom we have captivity, we have bondage. In Christ we have freedom.

Galatians 5:13 CSB

For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.

We have freedom to obey God, we have freedom to love rightly. We have freedom to chose right.

Galatians 5:1 CSB

For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

We get the power to say no to things we do not want to do. We get the power to live as we truly desire free from the enemy.

You have authority

This is amazing. Authority is yours. If you are a child of God and an heir with Christ and you are filled with the Holy Spirit you have authority. Walk in the authority you have.

Authority if the rightful use of power. Because of Jesus you have authority.

I remember one time I really felt like I stepped in the authority God gave me. I had been struggling with some things. Years of spiritual abuse in two different areas. I felt like God was telling me to pray and pray in a different way. It was not a prayer of God please take this, it was a prayer of Jesus says GO!

Jude 9 CSB

Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

You don’t need to argue or plead or fight against things you just need to say the Lord rebuke you. You have that authority in the spiritual realm to rebuke things of the enemy that come against you.

You have power

Before I talk about power I want to preface that we have power and we have a God who sees more than we can imagine. Sometimes we pray and the answer is no. We have power but the source of that power is God we do not command Him but sit in subjection to Him. Sometimes we pray and He says no, the trick is learning to be content with that and still walking in His power and strength.

One of my favorite stories about power is the crippled man who was begging at the gate. He was asking for loose change. The Apostles Peter and John were walking by and told him:

Acts 3:6 CSB

But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

They did not have money but they had power in the name of Jesus.

Acts 3:7 CSB

Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.

He did not walk until He stood. They had power but the man had to get up and walk in his new power.

Acts 3:8 CSB

So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.

He did not jump and leap until he stood.

You have power. What in your life do you need to stand in power in. You have power, you have victory.

You have safety

This world is crazy and anything could happen at any minute but we as children of God have safety. We have security. Safety is not about not having back things happen to us. It is so much more than that.

Matthew 10:28 CSB

Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Things can happen to us and we are still kept safe.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 CSB

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You are safe. In the end you will be ok. If somethings happens to me and I die, I go home. I am not looking to die, I am looking to leave my family but worst case I go home. As a follower of Christ you have safety and your eternal destiny is set.

You have dignity.

We all have regrets. We all have things we wish we would have never done. Shame causes us to crawl inward. It causes us to shrink back.

Isaiah 61:7 CSB

In place of your shame, you will have a double portion; in place of disgrace, they will rejoice over their share. So they will possess double in their land, and eternal joy will be theirs.

Jesus took our shame.

I am the way I am not because I have never done wrong. I have done so many things I regret. I have hurt and been hurt. I have caused pain and done terrible and foolish things. I am not the way I am because I have not felt shame. I am the way I am because I have felt shame and then felt Jesus take that shame and give me dignity.

As a child of God you do not have to live in shame. Jesus took your shame on the cross and gave you dignity.

The lie is that you should shrink back. That your past disqualifies you. The lie is God could never love you because of what you have done . It is a lie. You are loved and Jesus took your shame and gave you dignity.

Whatever you past, whatever your mistake. Whatever you did that was nailed to the cross and you are a new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

You are new and have dignity in Christ!

You have provision

Philippians 4:11 CSB

I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.

We have all we need in Christ. We might not have all we want but we have all we need. There is nothing we lack. When we come to the King. When we submit to His goodness and mercy we are promised to have everything we need. We have all provision that is needed. I have seen it in my life and others that when we as God’s people focus on Him and what He calls us to He provides everything that is needed!

We have Uninterrupted Connection to God

The greatest thing we have is uninterrupted connection to God.

There are no second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven. You come to Christ and you get the Holy Ghost. You get the Holy Spirit. You get the Spirit of the living God living inside of you.

John 14:16–17 CSB

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.

You have God living on the inside. This is amazing! This is triumph!

Do you need to keep getting filled? Do you need to keep coming back to the fount of every blessing? Yes but you have a constant uninterrupted connection to God!

In the Old Testament you see people have the Spirit fall on them and then leave. That is not the way anymore. Now you get God on the inside.

This is the best thing ever. No need to go somewhere special. No need to make sacrifice. No need to beg God for His presence. He is with you.

2 Corinthians 3:16–18 CSB

but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The Lord is here and there is freedom!

Lost and Restored

What we lost Jesus restored. When He came out of the grave He brought all this with Him!

If you are new I want to ask you to give us a few weeks. Come back for our next series level up where we will talk about how to walk in fullness in different areas.

Here today if you do not know Jesus you have an opportunity to receive all this and more.

If you know Him but have not walked in this today you can make that change.

Communion

We are going to take communion together. Communion is when we remember what He has done!

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 CSB

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.