Sunday Rise Up

On my way to go get rumbling. Let's Rumble.

That's how I don't get us.

There's a shot cam.

Duckman.

And I hear the voice of longing.

9news.com.

Where are they now?

Uh, oh.

I broke it.

Dave, could you give me the picture from Good Friday of the

the props that people organize Here's an archaeological site in Israel of the kind of Tomb that Jesus was buried in carved out of a cave in rock. They would have been the entrance room, a body would be laid out on a on a table surface in the entrance room until it decayed. And then at some time later, though, great would be opened up. The bones will be collected in a phone box called an ossuary, and they would be placed in the back of the Tomb. So this tomb could be used again and again, and again, and a family might on the tombs, their Joseph of Arimathea. Laid Jesus in the Tomb like this and had a stone like that rolled in front in the stone falls into a little divot. So it's Thursday and it's going to take a lot to open it up again. So that's the story. Let's pick it up. Now, where the Easter Story happens.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. What I think about this first, verse of, what we're reading this morning, is to just recognize that for these women. This morning was, as bad as it could be. No. Wonder if you've experienced it getting as bad as it can be under, maybe, even if you came to church this day today feeling like it's as bad as it can be right now. I think there's an interesting question when it's as bad as it could be, and that is, where is God.

Where's God? When it's as bad as they can possibly get in the story, God is about to reveal something beautiful that he's doing.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. So, it starts out this this day was, as bad as it could be, they had hoped, they had believed that Jesus is the Messiah and at the end of the story is, he's going to be on a kingly throne of some kind raining in the world and that hasn't happened. He's instead been turned over to kind of mob control and he's been crucified that was as bad as it could get. But now it's gotten worse. Because what's worse than the Lord? You worshipped dying on a cross. That his body would be defaced or vandalized or stolen and that's obviously what has happened. They come to that tomb like the one we saw and somehow that stone is been rolled open. They go inside to look there's that table and The body is not on that table. This day was bad. And before anything, good happens, if it has gotten worse. Have you experienced that? It was as bad as it could get. You didn't think it could get any worse. It got worse. This is a little example, but it's just the one that came to mine. You bring your car to the muffler shop and they can just hear what they say. If you need a muffler 225 bucks. You don't have $225. So this is bad news. I got to spend that kind of money. And by the way, it's been a while since I bought a muffler, so my prices are too low, just Victim. They haven't put it up yet. So I put it up on the Hoist and then they come back and they say well actually You need an exhaust system from the engine all the way back. And by the way, somebody seems to have stolen your catalytic converter and inserted a little pipe in there. So there will be no re using your catalytic converter. Do you need everything from the engine back? Including catalytic converter? That'll be two thousand bucks? I'm about right? Don't am I about right. Anybody know saying you're like a car guy? Okay.

This was in a much bigger scale that kind of day. It was, it was bad. When the day started, the first thing that happens is it gets worse, but then God shows up. Well, they were wondering about this suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning Stood Beside them in their fight. The women bow down with their faces to the ground. But the man said to them, why do you look for the living among the Dead?

So, let's call this guy shows up part 1 scary, but kind.

If you, we still have a picture, one of these pictures. If you have a picture at home of a fat, little baby angel. Well, they're cute, but you didn't that picture of that fat. Little maybe Angel didn't come from the Bible. The Bible's picture of an Angel is usually the clothes, our shining. We don't necessarily know very much more about how the angel looks. But we know this universally people who made an angel are terrified. So there are two men whose clothes shine like lightning soon that they're angels and the women who come in are petrified. But then what comes out of their mouth is very gentle. Figure ask a question. If you're looking for somebody who's alive, why are you looking in a cemetery? There's our on Northland Drive. Running about like that. Just up in a ways is Elmwood Cemetery? Suppose you wanted to get together with a friend this week and you're on the phone. And you're saying, hey, let's let's get coffee on Tuesday 10 in the morning. Where should we meet Elmwood Cemetery? Let's I'll meet you at how much you going to do that. You go to Elmwood Cemetery to meet somebody to to visit the tombstone of a person you loved. You certainly might do that, but you don't have a social visit with someone with whom you want to build a relationship at the cemetery so that it's a very gentle. But provocative question, If you're looking for somebody who is alive. Why would you come to the cemetery?

He is not here. He has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you and Galilee the son of man must be delivered over to the hands of Sinners, be crucified. And on the third day, be raised again. Then they remembered his were.

So, I'd like to call this guy shows up, part 2, and perhaps a good summary would be unbelievably believable. Unbelievable. Let's start with that. Come on. It's unbelievable. There's an empty tomb. The body is not there and these two men whose clothes shine like lightning are saying it's because he got up and walked out. He's alive, that's unbelievable. Is it not? Christian's professor. But is no, is it, is it believable? But it's unbelievably, it's unbelievable on the one hand, but believable on the other, because there's some evidence. The biggest part of the evidence for the women is Jesus told you multiple times how this is going to go down. He may he told you before it happened. That I'm going to hand it over to Sinners. I'm going to be crucified. I'm going to be buried and on the third day. I'm going to rise again. If Jesus had told that to you a few times before it happened, and now it happened. That's evidence that even though it seems unbelievable that it is believable. There was other evidence to, there were these two men whose clothes shine like lightning there, some kind of evidence that something Supernatural is happening. And then of course, there's the empty tomb and But we'll find out later that the linen was lying in the Tomb. The same for us. There's an unbelievable Ness to talking about, God being alive. Jesus being alive, the holy spirit being president present. But a, that's a bunch of evidence to there. Is the prayer that you pray that God obviously answers. There is the moving that the Holy Spirit stores inside of you, where you're just pretty sure that God has done something to you. There is what you see and other people and what other people testified to. God, who is able to do more than we think. But could maybe be well described by doing unbelievably believable sings. We're only going to read a little bit more because we're just going to stick to the story of the Resurrection Day. But I think this last part is funny. I don't know if it's supposed to be funny. But I think it's funny but in a way that points to something profound when they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11, there used to be 12 disciples of Jesus, but Judas is in the part of them anymore. So now they are the 11 and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles, but they did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb bending over. He saw the strips of linen line by themselves and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. Okay, so what could be funny about this? I think what I'm calling funny arises from the fact that I have three daughters and a daughter-in-law and they're adults. And we have conversations about those kinds of moments when a woman is sitting in a team meeting. And she says a thing, which is true, then nobody responds. And then one of the men sitting at the table, since exact same thing like a few minutes later, everybody goes

I asked my daughter-in-law and one of my daughters. What do you call that? And they didn't, we couldn't come up with the name. One of them said, it's kind of like men's planing. So we know that word manse, planing is when a man feels like he has to explain something to a woman because she's a woman, even though she knows, right? She knows and This whatever you would call this. That's what this is. And so they have the facts. God, revealed to them. What was happening, they go to the 11 to share the information with them and the 11 thing as his nonsense. So they send her man. Peter is going to go with Peter goes any checks and he comes back and says, Jesus is Alive. There are possibly all going to go. Okay, so, Maybe that's funny. Maybe that's sad. Maybe I'm making it up but I'm pretty confident about this. The women's message in the Book of Luke Kent at one of the themes of the Book of Luke, which is often called by interpreters the great reverse. This is the idea that in the kingdom of God, the values are different than our values. The way God sees people is different than the way. We see people, we see Power, we see good-looking. We see popularity of all that kind of stuff. Our eyes are attracted to that. Our attention is attracted to that. Jesus sees, Jesus sees everybody. Jesus sees the people that get passed by and Jesus knows them. Well, and he talks about this in the Book of Luke. Luke has as does the Book of Matthew, the Beatitudes, but in Luke, they're kind of a short shortened version still in Luke. Jesus says, blessed are the poor. Blessed are those who mourn blessed are the meek blessed. Are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? Jesus said it, but we don't typically believe that. Do. We really believe it's a blessing to be poor. Do we really believe it's a blessing to be morning. Do we really believe it's a blessing to be meek. Do you really believe it's a blessing to be hungry and thirsty for anyting? Jesus is introducing the values of the kingdom of God. God looks and he sees who we tend not to see. He sees what we tend not to see. And so, This is a part of that in Jesus day. A woman could not be a legal witness in a court case. But God gives to this group of women, the first glimpse of the empty tomb and the tomb and the first opportunity to bring it to his disciples. That's just a little hint at what God is getting ready to do. Okay, so that's the story and we're going to stop there with the Bible material. And let me just point us to a few Easter themes, three of them. So the first one is Jesus is Alive.

We're tempted to Think. Jesus is a historical figure. That's worthy of honor like Gandhi or Abraham Lincoln or pick pick someone else. Shakespeare. Jesus. Is that kind of person? But the empty tomb means Jesus is locked and the location. The Bible gives him is the right hand of his father, where he reigns. So we believe that and that is a world altering thing to believe that Jesus is Alive in Jesus is present.

Secondly, eternal life in Jesus starts now. So another popular kind of idea is that Christianity is a life insurance policy. I'm going to believe in Jesus because I want to go to heaven when I die. And Christianity is a life insurance policy. When you receive Jesus, you receive his life and it's a life that goes beyond life, but Life in Jesus is so much more than that. We sang a song this morning.

That works. I was why can't I remember how those lines go? I was buried beneath my shame who could carry that kind of weight. It was my tomb.

Till I met you, you called my name and I ran out of that grave out of the darkness into your glorious day.

That's life in Jesus and it starts now and it's for this life right now. Yes, it continues Beyond this life, but it it begins today. And then last one in Jesus Kingdom, many values are reversed. So I was just talking about this, but let me add one more little piece in Luke's telling of the crucifixion and Resurrection story. This little great reversal theme is built in. So, when Jesus is being crucified, who's the first person who expresses faith, that Jesus is the son of God defeat. Remember me? When you come into your kingdom and Jesus honors, the thief today you will be with me in Paradise, who's second. The centurions who was in charge of crucifying him at the foot of the cross, when Jesus died, this Centurian says, surely this man was the son of God. Luke is honoring. These two people who represent marginalized groups of people that nobody was paying attention to. And who's the third group to, to really recognize who Jesus is this group of women who come to the tomb and it's all about different values in the kingdom of God. Delights in 3:8 says, there is neither Jew, nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ, Jesus.

One of the songs we're going to sing. No, I'm sorry. We sang it already.

Went like this. We are your people. You are our God. We are your temple. Make us holy like you are. There's a set of values that belong to the kingdom of Jesus, and when you become a follower of Jesus, you want to live out those values.

So, let me end with this. We have a couple times we're going to sing now. The first one is. Christ, the lord is living is risen today. Hallelujah. And the second one, has this line. There's an army rising up to break every chain to break every chain to break every chain. Life in Jesus starts now and life. In Jesus has the ability to break every chain that hold you down. To break every chain. There is power in the name of Jesus that Is Easter.

Let's break.

You might.

Let me put it this way in the, in the book of Acts. We read about Lydia in, the Bible said, the Lord stirred up her heart to believe the message. And so, you might be sitting here thinking. I haven't really acknowledge. Jesus to be that. And maybe God is stirring your heart. And if so, it would be good for you to have a conversation with him about that. you might have come to church, your like me fully believing it, but hearing God invite you again to to embrace it. And so let's just pray with that in mind. Lord, Jesus. I come to you this morning. And I say that, I'm sorry for the sin, that Separates Me From You. And I say, thank you. That. What was on that heart? We looked at earlier is true that while we were still Sinners, you died for us. And I say, please.

Receive me and recognize me as a citizen of your kingdom. As one of your people. As a part of your temple, where you live.

It's one of the people that you make, holy.

I want to be a part of the army that's rising up. To break every chain. Because there's power in Your Name, Lord.

Palace Inn. And when you pull it in, we recognize that you're also pulling is toward each other. Amen.

Let's close our worship service with arise and honor our Lord. And