Sermon Tone Analysis

1st Gathering

Church Update Video (1st Gathering, after music)

VIDEO Arise Easter

Welcome! (Jackie’s mic - stage)

Music

BAPTISM VIDEOS

Teaching

Receive John & Dianne into membership

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2ND Gathering

VIDEO Arise Easter

Welcome! (Jackie’s mic from baptismal)

BAPTISM VIDEOS and Baptisms (Receive Jason & Chrissy as members)

Greet Others (Band comes up)

Church Update Video (1st Gathering, after music)

Music

Teaching

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Today is the culmination of The Weekend that Changed the World.

It began with the crucifixion, but the crucifixion without the resurrection ends with the story of another wanna-be Jewish messiah killed by the Romans.

Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there with the defeated disciples of a murdered messiah, because....they claimed to see…

a Dead Man Walking!

We've all been to funerals, but none of us...EVER...has later had a physical visit from the person whose funeral we attended.

If we had, I’m willing to be the story would spread like wildfire, and some news agencies would b-line it here to interview you.

A Dead Man Walking is NOT a cherry on top of the story of Jesus - it is the FOUNDATION that our faith if built on!

And here’s the BIG TRUTH...

If He rose from the dead, we can trust what He said…about EVERYTHING! - relationships with God & people, money & material possessions, sin & forgiveness, heaven & hell.

If Jesus DIDN’T RISE from the dead, then Christianity crumbles, as its most important claim - the resurrection of Jesus - is a BIG FAT LIE.

You might say, “Jackie, you’re making it way too simple because there’s so much more to consider.”

NOPE!

It IS that simple!

Look at how the apostle Paul put it.

1 Corinthians 15:12–14 (NLT) But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?

For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.

And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.

1 Corinthians 15:15-16 (NLT) And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave.

But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead.

And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.

1 Corinthians 15:17-19 (NLT) And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins.

In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!

And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

Do you see it?

Christianity rests on the reality of A Dead Man Walking!

So, let’s take the next few moments to remember The Weekend That Changed the World.

PRAY

Last week we talked about the significance of Jesus’ death and the last words He cried out, “It is Finished!”.

Jesus was brutally beaten, made fun of, scourged and crucified to make FULL PAYMENT for my sin…and for your sin.

WHY?

Because...People are Precious.

Sin is Serious.

God is Gracious.

People are Precious, created in the image of God - intended to be image bearers who remind us of the God who made us, people created to be creative, passionate, and pure…people who love and serve and walk with the God who made them.

But...people have sinned against their Creator.

We have spit in the face of the One who gave us life and breath.

We have committed treason agains the King of the Universe.

And Our Sin is Serious.

Our lies, lust, drunkeness, selfishness, pride, evil actions, and hateful words must be punished, because…a Good God is JUST and doesn’t simply write off our wrongs.

But God is Gracious.

God loves to forgive and restore people to know Him and make Him known, to be His image bearers once again.

And that’s why Jesus stepped out of heaven, lived on the earth, and was lifted up on the cross.

The cross is where God’s justice and God’s graciousness met.

God wanted to fully forgive, but Sin had to be paid in full…and it was - BY JESUS - it is finished!

And then...Jesus breathed His last.

And His disciples were devastated.

Their Messiah had been murdered and they were so scared that they would face the same fate, that it seems only one of men showed up to the execution of Jesus (John).

Jesus was dead and it looked like all was lost.

There was no funeral for Jesus.

His closest friends wouldn't have come anyway.

They were hiding out behind locked doors in fear of the people who had Jesus killed (Jn 20:19).

And even though Jesus had told them He would rise again on several different occasions,

...it didn’t even register when Peter and John went to check out the women’s claim that the tomb was empty.

WHY NOT?

Had they forgotten when:

Jesus raised a 12 year old girl back to life (Lk 8:41-42, 49-56)?

And what about the man that He raised during the funeral procession to the cemetery (Lk 7:11–17)?

And then there’s Lazarus, the guy who had been dead and buried for four days (Jn 11).

Had they forgotten that Jesus had said He would raise from the dead?

Matthew 16:21 (NLT) From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law.

He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

Matthew 17:22–23 (NLT) After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.

He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

And the disciples were filled with grief.

Matthew 20:18–19 (NLT) “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law.

They will sentence him to die.

Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified.

But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

Of course the skeptics would say that maybe Jesus said that, and maybe He didn’t.

Either way, they would say, Jesus didn’t rise from the dead.

I would then ask, since the tomb of Jesus was certainly empty on that Sunday morning, where happened to it?

If the tomb was still occupied then all that was needed was to parade the corpse around Jerusalem, and Christianity would never have been know to you and me.

So, What are the options for the missing body?

Stolen Body?

That was the first counter to the claim that Jesus had risen (Mt 28:11-15).

So the disciples of Jesus - fishermen and a tax collector - overpowered Roman soldiers?

Then what?

They bury Jesus’ body somewhere else and later be severely persecuted and even DIE…for a LIE?

If you were about to die for a lie - you KNEW Jesus wasn’t alive; you KNEW where his body was, wouldn’t you give it up?

Someone would!

People don’t DIE for what they know to be a LIE.

The late Chuck Colson, known as President Nixon’s hatchet-man, who spent several years in prison, said, “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me.

How?

Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it.