Take another Look

He is risen! He is risen indeed.

Good morning it is good to see you all in the house of the Lord today. it is my honor to bring your the word of the lord today. Today we finish this journey we have been of reflection, repentance, and recommitment. our journey of spring cleaning of the soul. our lenton journey.

today my message is shorter than normal. Don’t every one amen that all at once. today we are going to start our journey in the book of Matthew.

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.

Matthew 28:1–10

Matthew 28:1–10 NIV

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

This is the word of the Lord, Thanks be to God.

Prayer:

lets start off like this:

Anyone who has watched the sunrise knows that it is well worth the effort of waking up at an early hour to witness a new dawn. It is especially worth it to watch the sun rise over a body of water as the unknown and dark depths are slowly exposed. The sun illuminates everything that was hidden by the darkness. What was once scary and unknown becomes majestic and beautiful. The sun’s colors are vibrant, and they become even more striking when they reflect off the water and spread. But the reality is that the night is long and dark. If you have ever pulled an all-nighter you know how slowly time can crawl.

have you ever looked at your watch, and it feels like an hour has went by, then you check your watch only to find out only ten minutes passed by! So you do a double take, and you make sure you saw that right. anybody ever done this?

I used to work the night shift at Winn Dixie. Those were the longest nights. I often wondered is this shift ever going to end! often wondered if the nights were getting longer.

sometimes we feel like that in life don’t we. I can only imagine how the disciples must have felt. That night would have felt like the longest night.

One can begin to wonder if the darkness will never be broken, if the night is too much and too terrifying to be outlasted.

The journey to the Grave

The night is long and dark. It is unknown and terrifying.

We may have wondered before if the night will outlast us.

We may have wondered if we did all the work of journeying through Lent, of reflection and repentance and recommitment and renewal, just to end up at a grave.

These ladies journey all the way to the grave and found something they did not expect. So much so that they had to do a double take. they had to look agian. This is clearer in the book of john.

Have you guys ever had to do a double take at something because you couldn’t process what you just saw.

Show slides of confusing photos.

Look again

The tomb isn’t what you think. Death is not a book end to the story, and now because of what Jesus did it doesn't have to be the book end to our story too.

Jesus resurrection's marks a beginning. Not an end.

Today we remember that death doesn’t have the final word in our lives, not anymore, in our homes, or in our communities. Life does. The resurrection has begun and is ongoing!

The miracle of Christ’s resurrection sets Christianity apart from other world religions. You can go to the grave of Muhammad. You can visit the place where the ashes of Buddha is located. But you cannot visit the remains of Jesus the Nazarene, and if you try, you will only find an empty tomb because he has risen from the dead.

the tomb is empty, maybe you need to look again. because Jesus died and rose again for us!

John 3:16

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Do yo believe today?

and if you do believe today then you should live like it.

Clark Kent (this illustration is from pastor Todd mullens)

Do yall know who this is.

superman that's right, do yall know his alter ego?

Clark Kent.

when someone needed saving Clark would run off to a phone booth and change into superman.

when he would fly through the air do yall know what the people would say.

it’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s superman.

they had to look again.

but the moment he was done saving people, he would change back into Clark Kent.

i say all that to say this, we live that way too. if we are honest. we come to church we are Christians, Jesus is alive, only to leave and button up our shirt and hide it.

and some times we let a little bit of our Christianity show during the week. we go bless your heart we will pray for you.

No we should walk out church, our of houses every day like this!

because Jesus is alive, the tomb is empty!

if you believe you should live like it in such a way that people have to look again! be so loving, so kind, that folks have to do a double take. Amen.

No more hiding, the tomb is empty. lets live like it.

Maybe we should look again at our own lives and ask this question, have we been living like the tomb is empty? because if not we need to ask why. what is keeping from living resurrected lives? and we need to give those things to the lord.

stand with me as we close in prayer: