Easter 23

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Introduction

Good morning and Happy Easter. This is the day that we celebrate that Jesus is alive. It isnt that Jesus just became alive or that He roase from the grave, but that even today He is alive.
Rachel works for Tom Rainer’s publishing company, and Tom’s son, Art, tweets something every day and I love it. It is simple and it is a sermon in and of itself and it is what we will focus on today.
The tweet is this
“JESUS IS ALIVE TODAY AND THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING”
Guys it really really does. The implications of Easter are the only reason we have hope today. One year ago yesterday, we experienced a great tragedy in our family as Rachel’s Uncle and godfather tragically and unexpectedly died. The only reason that family has carried hope through this year is because of the fact that Jesus is alive.
Many of you have experienced death sickness in your life. You have expereienced turmoil and your own sin and choices. We all have. And I would conmtend this morning that had it not been for Easter, had it not been for the fact that Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave and paid the price that you and I could not pay, there would be no need for you to get out of bed, no need for me to preach this sermon. It would ALL BE HOPELESS

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Jesus’ disciples were in a deep state of grief and sadness. Their only hope, their best friend, their Messiah was murdered in the most horrendous way you could imagine in front of them.
MARY WENT AND SPREAD FEAR AND PANIC
JUST BECAUSE YOUR WORKD IS IN CHOAS, JUST BECAUSE YOU CANT SEE JESUS WORKING, JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID, DOESNT MEAN JESUS ISNT ALIVE

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb

Panic and fear is contagious. if you dont live you life with the catalyst that Jesus is alive it wont spread
Their instinct was to run to panic, to doubt and not to lean on what Jesus said and taught them.

12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus comes to her in her panic and He says her name. Instinctually she clings to him but he sends her out. The first sent person after the ressurection is a woman named Mary.
IN A WORLD THAT THRIVES ON SPREADING PANIC, JESUS CALLS YOUR NAME AND ASKS YOU TO SPREAD THE NEWS THAT HE IS ALIVE

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

This is the special sending and calling of the disciples. They were apostles with an apostolic calling. There was no one else with this special calling, and outside of Paul, no one else ever would. They would be the initiators of the church and spreading the gospel that we proclaim today. If they didnt proclaim it no one would hear it. no one would hear of forgiveness
But everyone wants to focus on that
Focus on PEACE BE WITH YOU!
Rachel finished surgery and the doctor said, Everything went great

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The ressurection changes everything
walked with him, saw him, knew him, but now believed
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