Easter: The Miracle that Changes Everything
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Carla Bagwell's story
Is God real? Do miracles happen? Did Jesus rise from the dead?
I don't have any miracles planned for this morning. But I will tell you that Easter tends to be one of the more challenging days to preach, not because pastors and teachers don't know what the topic should be, but how to communicate it in a way that brings believers to be in awe again and gives skeptics a glimpse at the power of God.
So early March 15, I prayed, "Lord, open my eyes so I may see the wonder of the miracle of Your resurrection anew." Little did I know He would send Carla Bagwell to me later that day. She said, "Pastor, I need to tell you my miracle story."
She said it began when Jason and I sensed God calling us to be part of a church start. It was Friendship Baptist Church in Paducah, Kentucky. She said; we gathered as a small group of a dozen people. We prayed, planned, and invited people to come for the launch date about Easter time. We didn't know what to expect. Jason and I invited our landlord, Nelly-Sue, and her husband. Nelly-Sue's Father, Mr. Clayton, decided to come as well.
The Sunday arrived, and people came packing the pews. Carla worked in the nursery. A fellow member came back to get Carla, and it was a hike to get to the kid's area. She said, Carla, Mr. Clayton DIED in service. I'll watch the kids, and you be with Nelly-Sue.
Carla says I remember getting to the sanctuary; I could feel the heat radiating as I opened the doors. When I stepped into the sanctuary, I could see people in groups praying. My hands immediately went up like I had no control; I heard my voice saying, "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you."
She looked in the aisle. Mr. Clayton laid there pale, and Nelly-Sue held her daddy's cold hand. Cathy, a cardiac nurse, had been working trying to save Mr. Clayton for over 15 minutes to no avail. The ambulance had been called but had not arrived. Nelly-Sue had to tap Cathy to say, friend, he's been gone. You did your best, but please stop. The Reporter, who I guess knew the ambulance, called to tell them not to rush; Mr. Clayton was gone.
Some more time passed as Nelly-Sue held her daddy's hand, and the people prayed. The Reporter had waited outside to wave them down and show them to Mr. Clayton. When the paramedics entered the sanctuary, Mr. Clayton opened his eyes, sat up, and then stood. The medics began to hop to it and got him on the gurney. Mr. Clayton seemed genuinely touched by the concern but surprised by the commotion. He smiled and waved at everyone as they put him in the ambulance.
The Reporter, who admitted that he was an unbeliever, turned to the congregation as all eyes looked to him and said, "What are you going to do for your NEXT service?"
The headline in the Paducah Sun on Monday read, "New church starts by Raising the Dead."
Well, that's how the first church started as well. That was the headline news the early witnesses shared.
11 But Mary stood outside facing the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 She saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet, where Jesus’ body had been lying. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “Because they’ve taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put Him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not know it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Supposing He was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve removed Him, tell me where you’ve put Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said, “Mary.” Turning around, she said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” —which means “Teacher.” 17 “Don’t cling to Me,” Jesus told her, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brothers and tell them that I am ascending to My Father and your Father—to My God and your God.” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what He had said to her.
The tale of two Gardens:
A. Easter means we no longer need to play hide and seek with God. We can know Him.
1. In the first Garden, Adam and Eve hid from the Gardener.
The Pastor Comes by Your House
The Pastor Comes by Your House
A pastor went out one Saturday afternoon to visit his church members. At one house, it was obvious that someone was home, but nobody came to the door even though the preacher knocked several times. Finally, the preacher took out his card, wrote out 'Revelation 3:20' on the back of it, and stuck it in the door:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me."
- Revelation 3:20
The next morning, the card turned up in the collection plate. Below the preacher's message was written the following notation:
"I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."
- Genesis 3:10
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
No matter how many steps you walk away from God, listen to His footsteps. He looks for you. He’ll leave the 99 for the one who has gotten herself in a thicket of trouble. Remember you may walk 10,000 miles away from God. Jesus so big, He’s always just a step away from you.
2. In the resurrection Garden, the Jesus revealed Himself as the Great Gardener.
B. The Power of Death has been arrested.
Sin brought Death in the first garden.
Some people have a green thumb when it comes to gardens and lawns. I have the Midas touch. Everything I touch turns to a muffler
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.
2. Through Jesus’ death, He made life available to all who come to His Garden!
10 A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
what if you woke up tomorrow and all suffering would be gone. but you had to follow Christ's commands fully, would you do it?
I bet each one of us, especially when we are honest would say, “I want to say, yes, but I’m afraid that even at my best, I couldn’t do it.”
Then you understand the gospel. Only Jesus lived the perfect life of obedience, love, and peace. He accomplished what you and I could not do. He died as an innocent in your place that in His resurrection He could forgive you and me and claim us as His family.
No greater love can be expressed than this that a man lays down His life for His friends.
Sin ruined the first Garden, but the Savior has prepared a place for you and me in paradise. John 14:1-6
1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Jesus opened the Garden of God to us again.
Thoughts to consider
Who needs you to share the good news with them today?
Have you let the feeling of distance keep you from the Lord, His church, and His purpose for your life?
If you believe, have you rejoiced in the Resurrection hope lately?
If you are considering Christ, what good reason keeps you from believing?
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. 5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. 6 “He is not here, but He has been resurrected! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?” 8 And they remembered His words.
Testimony from one person may not see the resurrection.
Evidence for the Resurrection gets collected and connected in a way similar to a puzzle. You have someone give the big picture, Jesus died and came back from the dead!
Well we weren’t there. So while I believe the Holy Spirit draws people, God also gives us other avenues to corroborate the inner witness. like a puzzle. We can look at the evidence of impact, eye-witness testimony and
Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV)
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
You have corroboration.
Eyewitnesses
Many times cases are not built because a bunch of people witnessed the event in question. Imagine guy on trial for vehicle theft. A lady walking by the car of the day and time of the theft identified him standing near the car in question. She turns the corner. The she recalls hearing a window break. She goes back to the corner and simply sees the car screeching away. But she never saw the guy actual steal the car.
Then imagine another person recognized the man on trial at a convenience store a few minutes later getting a Slurpee. The person noticed the car because it had a broken window. Then you have street camera footage of the car and the defendant can be made out driving the car. The car was not registered to the defendant. The owner of the car does not know the defendant. But no one actually saw him break the window and hot wire the car.
Further, you have people who heard the defendant brag that he steals cars. Police have pictures of the defendant hanging out with guys who they have charged with running chop shops.
Do you think the defense’s argument for innocence came down to the claim that no one actually saw him break the window or saw him hot wire the car would bring reasonable doubt as to his guilt?
If the jury returned a guilty verdict would you consider that jury unfair, unjust, unreasonable? If you would, I know a lot of defense lawyers that would love to take you to lunch.
The witness of death.
25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.”
the witness of an empty tomb.
You have conviction.
You have no conflict of interest.
That lends to credibility or reliability.
The first witnesses were women. Women were not considered worthy witnesses. If they were making it up, they would have made the male disciples the first witness.
The apostles followed and all but the one exile, died because they wouldn’t renounce their testimony. Faced with punishment for lying or perjury at court, witnesses will change their story. The apostles never wavered.
500 hundred other witness