Jesus is the Resurrection

(Son-Rise Service) He Is Risen!!!

Your response is, He is risen indeed

Let’s try that agian… He IS RISEN!!

If you’re not filled with the Joy of the Lord this morning, then you need to set yourself aside! He is Risen!!!

I don’t know if you understand.. .the fact that he is risen is the entire point of Christian life

Our only hope is in the fact that he is risen

Our only joy is in the fact that we don’t serve a dead king, but that King Jesus is alive and reigning!

Today is the day that you can celebrate the fact that you are not dead in your sins and your trespasses because you are alive in Christ

Jesus who died…not a figurative death… not a make believe death.. but a real death rose again.

That was our reciept… the proof that the account had been paid.

You no longer have to live in fear of eternal damnation

You don’t have to live in fear that God is dissapointed in you, you don’t have to live in fear that you don’t measure up… because HE IS RISEN

There should be some praise for the name of the Lord right there

There should be some amens right there

There should be some excitement for what the Lord has done in your lfe

That is if the Lord has done anything in your life

That is if the Lord is living in your life… or should I say if you are alive in Jesus!

Let’s get to our scripture this morning.

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If You’ve Seen Something, Say Something

The women were the first to see and hear the gospel of the risen Lord

We see from the same telling in the book of Luke that the women weren’t believed and the men had to go see for themselves.

It doesn’t matter who you see yourself as… it doesn’t matter who others see you as..

If you have seen the Christ work in your life and bring the newness that comes with his appearence… you have to share that

You have to know that your experience with the risen Christ is valid, your testimony has weight

God has called you and changed you and gifted you so thta you can minister to those around you. So that your life can be a sign pointing to the risen Christ.

Even if they don’t believe you and all your story does is give then enough skepticism to go check iit out for themselves… you’ve still done what you have been called to do

Jesus is the Resurrection

Mission and Vision Statement

Hopefully you didn’t spend all your praise at the sunrise service! What did you all get enough to eat at the waffle bar?

Praise God!

He is risen!

he is risen indeed

The church has been proclaiming this truth ever since the 2 disciples met the Lord on the road to Emmaus. They came back to the others and proclaimed that Jesus is risen indeed

This is our proclamation on easter but it is our proclamation in our lives every single day that we live

And please know the saying isn’t he has risen… amen

He IS risen. We serve a Risen King, a RISEN savior and on today we get to celebrate that the tomb was empty! That the payment for sin has been accepted

Today is what being a Christian is about

Our faith is an Easter faith, amen

I know everyone loves Christmas because of the family ties and the gifts and the treats and the snuggly weather and snow...

But our faith is not about The birth without the resurrection!

The only reason his birth has any value in our life is because he rose again!

Today we are finishing up our lenten sermon series on the 7 signs

Someone say 7 signs

We have been discussing how the sign points to something greater

We’ve seen how Jesus is greater than his gifts, we’ve seen how Jesus is better than old religion, How he does his signs for the unbeliever, how the mere presence of Jesus changes everything, How he is the sight for the blind, and how Jesus is both the Lord an the sabbath

Today we get to celebrate on resurrection Sunday that Jesus is the Resurrection

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PRAY

If you grew up in church at all… even if you haven’t, you probably know the story of Lazerus

at least you know that Jesus raised him from the dead

This

But that doesn’t mean that you get to tune out today.

I want to hit you all with 2 main points today

There is no resurrection without death

You can never be too dead for Jesus to bring life

There is no resurrection without death

Earlier in the chapter in a portion that we didn’t read v 5-6

we see that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus… and so after he heard that Lazarus was sick he stayed for 2 more days before going to him

And then we see in v15 that he was glad that he wasn’t there

Jesus knew that in order to bring Lazarus back from the dead… he had to be dead.

There is no resurrection without death

I know that sounds like a duh statement, but its something that we struggle to fully embrace as followers of Jesus

However, Jesus didn’t mince words

He said that whoever would come after him must pick up his cross and die to self in order to have new life in CHrist

Paul tells us that if you are in Jesus the old has died.. the old you is dead

Jesus doesn’t come into your sick life and try to nurse you back to health so that you can be the best you that you can be

Even the best you is terrible

The flesh and every desire belonging to it must die

We have to die to our selfish ambitions, die to our self-righteousness, we have to die to our rights to our own way, we have to die to sin

Only in that death do we get life in Jesus Christ

C.S. Lewis said If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.

Its not comfortable to die to self

Its is not naturally to say, Not my will, but yours

You can’t continue to nurse an ego that’s leading you to death, you can’t continue to foster and incubate the illness and hope that Jesus would come to put a bandaid on it and help you look better all the while you are rotting inside

There can not be new life in Jesus unless there is death

this means some old friendships will have to die, this means some old habits will have to die, this means old ways of thinking are going to have to die

so that Christ can be born anew inside you and resurrect new life in you

bringing new ways of thinking new desires, new habits, new passions, new life

The things of the flesh bring death but only by allowing Jesus into your life in order for those things to die in our life will he resurrect us not as polished versions of our old selves but as little versions of him

That’s what being a christian is

It doesn’t mean goo dperson, it doesn’t mean kind, it doesn’t mean wealthy, it doesn’t mean poor, it doesn’t mean republican or democrat… CHristian, when they were first called that at Antioch… means little christ

That means that when you die to self you are living as a little Jesus. A new creation

This means the old you, whoever people thought you were… is gone. YOu are new in Jesus Once you die to self. Once you lay to rest the old things the old ways.

Point 2: You can never be too dead for Jesus to bring you back to life

Jesus knew that unless the people where sure of the death of Lazarus, they wouldn’t believe in the power and authority that is in him

Jesus not only wanted people to know that he has authority over death but he wanted to show them this sign in a way that was unmistakeable.

He wanted people to know that Lazarus wasn’t just dead… he was dead dead!

When he goes to the tomb and asks them to roll the stone away, Martha tells him.. look he’s been decomposing in there for 4 days.. its nasty. There are smells and other stuff that you don’t want any parts of

Jesus wasn’t detured by the human standards of difficulty

Death is death is death and if Jesus has authority over death, then it doesn’t matter if someone was dead a day or a thousand years. If Jesus calls them back to life they are living!

Some of you have been so far from Jesus for so long that it seems like its impossible for there to be new life breathed into your bones.

SOme of you have been fighting sins for so long that the death in your life seems essential. Meaning it is who you are

But I want you to know that there is no depth that you could ever stoop to that Jesus could not revive you

The pslamist says in 139 that even if we would go down to the depths of the ocean you could not get away from the love of God.

It doesn’t matter the level of death that you have stooped to… Jesus can still call you out of that darkness into his marvelous light

Because Jesus is the resurrection

This miracle isn’t about a type of resurrection it’s about the fact that Jesus is the Resurrection and the life. It is only in Christ that life is found. He called Lazarus out of the putrid stench of death apart from Lazarus having to work his way back to life

We have a faith that is not about making the sick well, its about making the dead alive.

Truly think about that.

Jesus is the resurrection meaning that if you’re dead… there’s no effort you can make on your own to make yourself alive.

It takes simply letting God be God and allowing surrendering to what he wants to do in your life which is bring the breath of life!

He proved again that he was the resurrection by resurrecting himself! 2000 years ago, Jesus was dead in the tomb for 3 days

He got out of the grave and shook off the stench of death in order to bring you new life

His death was for your sins. He was pierced for your transgressions and bruised for your inequities. The weight of your sin held him on that Cross.

And not only did he take it to the grave and bury your sin, but to prove that his offering was acceptable, HE CAME BACK!!!

This is why we can proclaim He IS RISEN… he is Risen Indeed.

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