He Is Risen!
Notes
Transcript
Christ is Risen!…He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Christ is Risen!…He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Read Psalm Responsively: Pastor starts and congregation follows alternating slides
Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.
He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.
He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.
They are established for ever and ever, enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.
He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
Blessed by Your name Father God for providing deliverance for us Your people! Blessed be Your Son Jesus Christ who took upon Himself our sin so that we may be reconciled to You once again! And thank you to the Holy Spirit who dwells within each of us witnessing to our Spirit that we are Your children!
Today we celebrate the work You have done on our behalf! May we never take it for granted but instead be devoted to You in all we do.
In Jesus name we pray, and all say...
Amen!
Sing: Raise a Hallelujah
Welcome
I just want to take a moment to welcome you each here this morning. It is a bit of an experience trying to hold the service in our building but it made it easier as we could provide good sound and PowerPoint.
I only have a couple announcements:
I want you to be free to worship. For this reason, I have divided the church in half. Those who wish to wear masks on one side and those who choose not to on the other side. I do not want this to be a day of fear, but a day of rejoicing and worship.
In the back are purple tubs. In the past we have received offerings for the Elgin Ministerial Association. These funds are used for two purposes.
The largest is to provide a temporary hands up for those who find themselves in crisis.
A smaller part helps us to provide ministry events such as Church in the Park and Movies in the Park. We do hope to have some more Movies in the Park this year.
If you would like to contribute to this fund, you can drop your offering in those baskets today.
The Easter Son Rise service has been an EMA event for many years now. We enjoy the opportunity to gather and worship together as we are all God’s church even though we usually worship separately.
Last, but not least. There is a Community Easter Breakfast at the Christian Life Center immediately after this service. They are just a block up and down. We hope you are all able to join us after this service.
With that, please stand with me as we continue to celebrate in song!
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Living Hope
Christ Arose
Sermon:
Easter story from The Story Bible
This year has been a year of profound loss for our nation in many ways. There is no community untouched, not even ours. For awhile it felt like we would be unscathed by the virus, but alas, it hit us with a vengeance. If that were not enough, we had recently come out of a flooding period just prior. Then there were the fires that created unhealthy breathing conditions.
If that were not enough, we have experienced the loss of young lives through circumstances completely unrelated to the pandemic.
When we look across our nations at all the civil unrest and across the world. There really has been no nation untouched by it all.
Despite it all, as Christians we have hope and it is because of what happened on this day nearly 2,000 years ago. Instead of lowering our heads in despair, we lift up our eyes in eager hope that the Lord’s return is near.
However, that does not mean we are heartless and unaffected by the losses. We grieve for those lost who never knew that hope. We miss those we lost who were alive with Christi’s Spirit. We know and understand the profound loss that the followers of Jesus felt on that morning as they made final preparations for this burial.
You can imagine the somber mood of the women as they walked to the tomb. As they spoke to each other I am sure they had moments when the grief washed over them once again bringing tears down their face and an inability to speak. We have been there. We know what that feels like.
To better understand these women, let us look at who they possibly were and what their relation to Jesus was. Keep in mind that these are common beliefs by scholars as the gospels are not clear, but tradition helps in the research.
Mary Magdalene we do know. Jesus freed her from 7 demons. From that day forward, she followed Jesus and helped to care and support Him and His disciples. She seems to be a woman that had some means available to her.
Mary is believed to be Jesus’ mother’s sister-in-law. This seems to fit since it is usually a family member who was responsible for the care of a deceased body.
Salome was the mother of James and John. This also fits as Jesus was very close to this family and even entrusted the care of His mother to John.
These women had much cause to be devoted to Jesus. They had experienced and seen Him perform many miracles. They had heard His teachings just as the men did. This was rare in that culture. Jesus had many women followers because Jesus treated women as equal in a society that treated them more like property.
So, what was that moment like when they arrived to find the guards gone, the stone rolled back, and an angel before them? We are told they fell before the angel (or angels depending on which account you read). You can imagine the confusion they felt in that moment. Then the angel told them that Jesus was alive! You can imagine their minds racing as they were at first confused, doubtful, but then a glimmer of hope would start to spring to life. All this would have gone through their mind in a moment of seconds.
There appeared to be a moment of delay in telling the disciples. Why not? Women were not usually entrusted with such important news as they were not believed as creditable, but it did not take them long to carry the message anyway. You cannot hold that kind of excitement in for long. Was it possible? They had to know and the had to share!
Just as they had expected, the disciples didn’t believe them! They are just women, what do they know? However, Peter and John had enough hope to go and see for themselves.
They saw, they pondered. The scripture indicates that John instantly believed but Peter pondered. They did not have long to ponder. Jesus eventually showed Himself. First, to Mary Magdalene, a long time follower of Jesus. Second, to Cleopas and a companion on the road to Emmaus. Scripture reports that before they realized who He was, Jesus explained all the Old Testament and prophecies revealing how they all pointed to the resurrection. Do you not wish you could have been there to hear it?
Then late to the disciples and later to over 500 people at once. Jesus had risen from the dead! He was alive! And it changed their lives forever!
So what about the discrepancies in the accounts. Shouldn’t we be concerned about those? I do not think so. I believe those are more proof. If you have ever heard witnesses to an incident, there are many minor details they get confused. Too much happens at once and the emotions are all a jumble. However, the main event is all the same.
One angel, two angels? It doesn’t change the fact that the tomb was empty or the fact that hundreds of people saw and spoke to Jesus later.
Women arrive together or women arrive separately? If they arrived separately it may account for two versions of the number of angels.
However, It doesn’t change the fact that the tomb was empty or the fact that hundreds of people saw and spoke to Jesus later.
The women hesitated to go to the disciples the women immediately went to the disciples? It doesn’t change the fact that the tomb was empty or the fact that hundreds of people saw and spoke to Jesus later.
Peter runs to the tomb vs Peter and John run to the tomb? It doesn’t change the fact that the tomb was empty or the fact that hundreds of people saw and spoke to Jesus later.
No matter the order of the little details, it does not change the fact that Jesus was not in the tomb. It does not change the fact that many people saw Him over a span of 40 days following the resurrection. He presented Himself sometimes to individuals, sometimes to a small group and another time to a crowd. The proof was significant enough that these people’s lives were changed. These people were so convinced that they laid down their life to preach it.
What is the significance for us? It proves that the Bible is true. The prophecies of Jesus birth, death, and resurrection have been fulfilled. That means that the prophecies of His coming again are true as well as the promises of our resurrection and eternal life. A life with God. A life where all sin and the consequences of sin are expelled!
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Revelation 21:1-5
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
This morning we do not come in memorial of death, but in celebration of life! Jesus conquered death and now we need not fear death. Instead, we have victory over death just as Jesus did.
I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
COVID may still take lives. Our nation may turn and become something foreign to us. Disasters may increase. But we can look death square in the face and say “O death, where is your victory, where is your sting. Jesus has conquered death and promised me life everlasting. So, I boldly proclaim, ‘Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!”
Please stand with me as we boldly proclaim this together this morning.
Because He Lives
Father,
Once again we proclaim, “You are Lord!” We pour out ourselves as a drink offering unto you this morning Lord. You have overcome the grave and have provided the means for us to do the same. Thank you Jesus for dying for our sins! Thank you for leading us through the Holy Spirit. May we be ever faithful to proclaim this news to those around us just as Your followers did 2,000 years ago!
In Jesus name we pray!…Amen!
Thank you once again for coming this morning. My your Easter be blessed as you celebrate with your families and church families. Please feel free to join the churches as they gather for breakfast at the Christian Life Center.
God Bless!