[0:00] He rose not in riches, in strength, or might, but in the grace of God. Thy glory and weakness to live is Christ, in plenty or in want.
[0:14] Then I might know that all may see His power within me. All my boast is in Jesus.
[0:26] All my hope is His love. And I will glory forever in what the cross has done.
[0:39] Now I stand in His freedom, ransom clean in His sight. And I will not be ashamed for my boast in Jesus Christ.
[0:54] My boast is Jesus Christ. Forever my boast is Jesus Christ. Come be God.
[1:06] Come behold the wondrous mystery.
[1:34] In the dawning of the King. He the theme of heaven's praises, roped in frail humanity.
[1:50] In our longing, in our darkness, now the light of life has come. Looked to Christ who condescended, took on flesh to ransom us.
[2:10] Come behold the wondrous mystery.
[2:23] He the perfect Son of man. In His living, in His suffering, never trace nor stain of sin.
[2:38] See the true and better Adam. Come to save the hell-bound man.
[2:48] Christ the great and sure fulfillment of the law. In Him we stand.
[2:58] Come behold the wondrous mystery.
[3:10] Christ the Lord upon a tree. In the state of ruined sinners.
[3:21] Hang the Lamb in victory. See the price of our redemption. See the Father's plan unfold.
[3:36] bringing many sons to glory. Grace unmeasured, love untold.
[3:46] Come behold the wondrous mystery.
[3:58] Slain by death, the God of life. But no grace could ever restrain Him. Praise the Lord, He is alive.
[4:13] What a foretaste of deliverance. How unwavering our hope.
[4:25] Christ in power resurrected. As we will be when He comes. What a foretaste of deliverance.
[4:38] How unwavering our hope. Christ in power resurrected.
[4:50] As we will be when He comes. Christ in power resurrected.
[5:01] Please have a seat calling up all the kids through and including grade six. My name is Chris Mitchell. I have the pleasure and privilege of supporting our pastors here. And we'll be, most of the year we are connecting the lessons to the gospel story.
[5:17] Because after all the whole Bible is centralized on the gospel. They're not just stories. But today we get to teach the gospel itself.
[5:28] We're covering the death and resurrection of Jesus. And I'm working with one of our pastors, Dave Corrente, to teach them. The key passage for today is Revelation 5.13, which says, And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying, To him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.
[5:57] Please join me in praying for these guys. Lord, thank you for this opportunity to care for your kids. To teach them your truths, Lord, from your word.
[6:10] Lord, we know, of course, that it is you who saves. We do not do the saving. We are not saved because we are extra clever or smart or any such thing.
[6:23] But rather it is through your grace that you open our eyes to your truths, Lord. And so as much as we will not teach these kids perfectly, Lord, we ask for your help in teaching them well and clearly your truths, Lord.
[6:38] And that you will change their hearts and save every one of them, Lord. And that not one would be lost. In your name, amen. Good morning and welcome.
[7:00] My name is BK. I have the pleasure of serving as one of the pastors here. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 24. Luke 24.
[7:16] I want to begin with a quick question. And that question is, have you ever had an experience that you just knew something was over?
[7:28] It was point finale and there's nothing more that you could do about it. Perhaps it is dealing with a medical condition or perhaps the disintegration of a relationship.
[7:48] But I want to tell you a story of a friend of mine and what they went through. And just to see if you can enter this story to have an understanding of what I'm talking about. In 2010, a young baby was born by the name of Lexi.
[8:02] Lexi's father was a career criminal and he was in prison at the time. And her mother was a habitual drug user.
[8:14] So the state had made the decision that Lexi could not be raised with her family. So enter a man by the name of Rusty.
[8:25] He and his wife had three kids and they were working as foster parents. So they had brought Lexi into their home. They had raised her for six years.
[8:37] And in the sixth year they had made the decision that they were going to adopt her and make her one of their children. Well, once they went to make the adoption application that they were told that they could not adopt Lexi.
[8:55] The reason being that Lexi was 164th Choctaw, which is one of the Native American tribes. And according to the Indian Child Welfare Act, they could not.
[9:11] So they submitted legal depositions. They basically tried to challenge this law because the reality of 164th.
[9:23] I think you have to go five generations before you really have the native blood. But this Indian Child Welfare Act stipulated that it was 164th.
[9:35] So they won a court case. They could keep Lexi. The other side appealed. They won that course. Then they challenged that law. They won to keep Lexi in the home.
[9:46] Finally, it went to another course, which sided with the Indian Welfare Act. And finally, they were able to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.
[9:57] During that time, this case became a national sensation. National news covered it. ABC, Good Morning America covered the story.
[10:09] Regional news, local news. Everybody was there looking at this case and what would happen. Eventually, as they appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, they did not hear this case, which means they lost.
[10:28] All appeals were drained and they were no longer able to keep Lexi. Despite everyone seemingly on their side, from the news reporters to over 100,000 people had signed the petition, it was that big of a deal.
[10:48] Sadly, on the day that Lexi was to be placed, and just so you know, the people that were adopting her were not Native Americans.
[10:59] They ended up being related to her father through marriage. So here was this Indian Act depicting that you had a 164th Native needed to be raised on the Native family.
[11:14] Everyone knew they were going to a family that wasn't Native. Like how does this even make sense? On the day that they handed over, like I was saying, all the news was there.
[11:25] We're not talking about people with their iPhones filming, but there was ABC, NBC, Fox, all these people. It was all over the news. There was a big website that was called Save Lexi.
[11:37] It was trending everywhere. And you sadly see Rusty walking out with his little girl in his arms as he's handing her over to people that do not know her and had no relationship to her whatsoever, and they drive off.
[11:54] And in that midst, you can hear people crying. The family are crying. They're wailing. They're brothers and sisters. They have to pick them up and move them out. It's just a completely heartbreaking story.
[12:09] Now, if you're able to relate to this story in any way or able to identify with the feelings that Rusty and his family had on that day, perhaps you might be able to relate to those that knew Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago.
[12:30] Perhaps you can get a sense for what it was like for one, some of the women who were coming to finish the burial of Jesus Christ.
[12:43] This morning, I'm going to look at five scenes in the life of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And ultimately, I'm going to put you to a question or a challenge.
[12:56] I'm going to demonstrate to you through the text that indeed Jesus Christ the King lives. The question that I have for you is what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it?
[13:10] So please turn with me in your text. Verse 1, Luke 24. The text reads, But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb taking the spices that had been prepared.
[13:23] And if you're familiar with the end of chapter 23, there was a burial. Joseph of Arimathea had brought the tomb. No one had used it. He went to Pilate, got permission to bury Jesus there.
[13:37] Pilate allowed him to do so. But because of the Sabbath, they weren't able to finish doing all the burial procedures, which meant they had to bring spices to put over the body.
[13:49] So the scenes, it is early morning. It is still dark. The grief still hangs in their heart.
[14:00] These women walked toward the tomb with arms full of burial spices and hearts full of sorrow. These women are not skipping along to their daily task or their family task.
[14:17] They aren't smiling. They aren't coming with hope. They're not coming to celebrate. They were simply come to mourn and to finish the burial.
[14:32] They're coming to finish what death started. They were there when he died. They watched his body wrap. They saw the stone rolled into place.
[14:44] And all the power and promise that they had seen in Jesus seemed swallowed up in this tomb.
[14:55] Like it was for Rusty when he gave their young daughter over to the resulting authorities and the door closed and drove off.
[15:06] It was the same feeling for them. It was over. But God had something else in mind. And one of the things that we need to understand is that the woman that were mourning there that morning didn't go looking for a miracle.
[15:25] They came to mourn a memory. They didn't show up with faith. They showed up with the fragrant spices to cover the dead body of Jesus.
[15:39] I think we need to be honest here. They went expecting the worst. Perhaps some of you who have suffered the kind of desperate heartbreak of loss through relationships or life's choices, you get to a point where every decision there is an expectation of the worst.
[16:08] Perhaps we do this when we look in the world like we do when we think that perhaps God is silent when things aren't going the way we had hope.
[16:20] But I think it's important to realize that these women weren't weak. They were human. They had seen the betrayal, the beatings, the crucifixions of Jesus Christ.
[16:35] And there was nothing in their lived experience that ever said resurrection. And this is what makes this story so powerful.
[16:48] Verse 2. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. There are many people who argue that it was Jesus who removed the stone or an angel to let Jesus out.
[17:03] I don't believe that. I believe Jesus had the power to move through walls. We read in John 20 later on, we will read that Jesus himself was able to appear to the disciples in a locked room.
[17:15] I believe that stone was rolled away so these women could see inside the tomb. Otherwise, it would have just been a funeral for them.
[17:26] But now, with this stone rolled away, there is no barrier for them to see inside.
[17:37] The fact is, God wanted them to see with their own eyes what he had already accomplished with his own power. Because here's the thing.
[17:50] The resurrection was never meant to be private. The resurrection is a victory and it's public. Notice verse 3. Notice verse 3.
[18:01] But when they went in, they did not find the body of Jesus, the Lord Jesus. Notice that. They did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
[18:16] The tomb was empty. And not because someone stole him. Not because they got and arrived at the wrong grave. The tomb was empty because Jesus Christ had risen from the dead.
[18:28] Just as he said he did. This isn't myth. This isn't metaphor. This is history. And you've heard me say many times the Christian faith, unlike every other faith that exists in this world, is a historical faith.
[18:44] If these events did not happen, our faith is in vain. If they did not happen, we are to be pitied for following a quote-unquote dead savior.
[19:03] But he's not dead. He is alive. See, the fact of the matter is there was no guards could stop him. No Roman seal could hold him.
[19:15] Death had done its worst and Jesus crushed it. Let me ask you a question. Are you still staring at a tomb?
[19:26] Is there something in your lifestyle that has gone so far and too long that you believe that there is no coming back? Perhaps you've been enslaved to a sin that has gone on so long and it's so deep that you can never believe that Jesus can forgive you?
[19:46] Perhaps you came here this morning maybe expecting the same thing those women did. He came here to reflect, to remember, to grieve.
[19:59] It's the Christian thing to do. But God brought you here to witness something greater. Perhaps it is his resurrection.
[20:12] See, the fact of the matter is Jesus doesn't always meet us at our lowest point. The fact is God often surprises us in the place that we least expected.
[20:25] In fact, with these ladies they expected death and they found Jesus. The empty tomb is not a suggestion. It's not a symbol.
[20:36] It's not a sentimental story. We dust off once a year and I preach a canned sermon just to reach our religious expectations.
[20:47] No, my friends, Easter is a declaration. It is a declaration that sin has been defeated. That death has been destroyed.
[20:59] It is the statement that Jesus is alive. And if the tomb is empty, everything is possible.
[21:13] What that means is maybe your lifestyle is not too far away from God. Maybe your sin is not too deep that God can't raise you from it.
[21:25] So here are these women surprised that they are in this tomb. Jesus isn't there. And now we move to our second scene. So the women enter the tomb.
[21:37] There is no body. There is an open space where death used to be. And while they stand there confused, shocked, trying to put the pieces together, the text literally says, whether we realize it or not, heaven speaks.
[21:51] Heaven speaks. Heaven opens up and interprets the events for these ladies. Verse 4. And while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
[22:05] Notice that word perplex. It doesn't mean to be mildly confused. It means to be filled with so much confusion that it results that you do not understand what you're experiencing.
[22:21] You don't know left, right, up, down. You do not know, wow, how do I respond to this scenario? You're in a total loss. These women, they're grieving.
[22:32] They're exhausted. The tomb is empty. And they don't know what's going on. And praise God, when we're confused, God is not. Suddenly, two angels appears.
[22:43] And they don't just appear with robes and harps. They're not these cute little cartoon baby cherubs we see often reflected in our media today. The two men that show up are known as warriors of truth.
[23:00] These men are terrifying messengers of glory. As they were frightened, verse 5 reads, and bowed their faces to the ground.
[23:17] There was something majestic in that tomb that garnered their attention. And the only appropriate response to this glory is to fall down.
[23:30] But then here it comes. The angels don't tell them to run. They don't say, don't worry. Everyone or everything is fine. They simply confront the women with a question.
[23:41] And it's a question that cuts through every lie, every doubt, every dead end thought. Why do you seek the living among the dead?
[23:53] Why do you seek the living among the dead? Why do you seek the living among the dead? He's asking a question which they know what that answer should be. Why do you seek the living among the dead?
[24:05] You came looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place. You brought spices for a savior who is not here. You came to mourn someone who isn't missing.
[24:16] He is risen. Verse 6. He's not here. He is risen. It's the greatest three words that we can ever hear.
[24:31] He is risen. It's the bold, undeniable declaration of heaven. He is not here. He has risen. And what this tells us is that he has risen.
[24:45] If Jesus has risen, every word that he spoke must be true. Amen? Every promise that he made has to be kept. Every sin that we've ever been confessed has to be forgiven and covered.
[25:01] And every grave that you ever stood before means it's not the end. Then the angels say this.
[25:15] And I don't know if they would have blushed, felt shame, or embarrassment at this statement. But they simply say, remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, which would have been about a year before, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on that third day rise.
[25:44] Ladies, this isn't supposed to be a surprise. This isn't plan B. He told you this had to happen. Jesus had told them multiple times, but in the pain, the trauma, in the chaos, they forgot.
[26:04] And that's why these angels just don't announce. They remind. And here's the thing, if you think too low of these ladies, or maybe you would have done it differently.
[26:20] The thing is we forget too, don't we? Sometimes we often forget what Jesus said. We forget who Jesus is. We forget what he promised when life gets hard and when people disappoint us, when things fall apart.
[26:33] We often forget what Jesus told us. But listen. Here's the thing. Too often, too many people are looking for a new word of God.
[26:46] I'm here to tell you that you need to remember the old word of God. The fact of the matter is, he told you.
[26:57] This is what the angel said. He had already said so. Go back. Open God's word. Remember what he said. Believe what he promised. The resurrection certainly didn't catch heaven off guard.
[27:09] And it should not stop astonishing us. Why do you seek the living among the dead?
[27:22] Let's be honest. Some of you are still looking for life in all the wrong places. You are trying to find identity in your performance.
[27:36] You are chasing peace in popularity. You are hoping joy will come through the approval of others. Perhaps you are looking for meaning in things that are already buried.
[27:50] But the angels would say it again to you. He is not here. He is risen. The fact is, you are not going to find Jesus in the dead things.
[28:03] You will find Jesus in the living things. And when we understand this, this changes everything. So we have these women.
[28:14] They have heard this message. And we turn to the third scene, which begins in verse 8. The tomb is empty. The angels have spoken. Jesus is alive, just as he said.
[28:25] And now they run. In fact, they run with holy urgency. The word has been spoken. Now it has to be shared. Verse 8.
[28:36] And they remembered his words. And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now I don't want you to rush past this.
[28:47] These women who came expecting to grieve, expecting to wrap the linens in spices, are now the first evangelists of the resurrection.
[28:58] They did not have a platform. They did not have a theological degree. And they certainly did not know or consider how this news would be received.
[29:10] They only had one thing. And that one thing is truth. And they opened their mouths. That's courage. That's obedience. That's faith.
[29:22] And what makes this story believable is that at that time, a woman's word was not even used in court. That if this was a fake story, and they were writing this in order to fool people, they would have stated that it was the men who first saw it, and it was the men who testified to this truth.
[29:44] But the writers of the gospel are writing as it happened in history. It was the women who went there, and it was the women who had the joy of announcing this grace truth.
[29:56] The greatest known ever to be known by men. He is... Boy, that's a weak declaration.
[30:07] He is risen. Yes. So they must have been received. Everybody must have believed them. Everybody must have flocked to them. Let's look at verse 10.
[30:19] Now it was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. Now remember the apostles. These were the men who walked away, who walked with Jesus, who heard his prophecies, who swore they would die for him.
[30:35] But these words seemed to them an idle tale. And they did not believe them. What?
[30:47] They were the ones who were supposed to believe. But they didn't. When they first heard it, they rejected it.
[31:01] Now let's settle on this for a moment. The resurrection message, when first preached, was dismissed before it was believed by the people who were with Jesus for three years.
[31:22] It wasn't simply rejected by Rome or the skeptics. But it was rejected by the church guys. The disciples.
[31:34] And here's the application, and it's real. Don't be shocked when people dismiss your witness. Don't fold when others call the gospel naive or foolish or outdated.
[31:51] Don't wait until it's cool or convenient to share it with someone. The fact of the matter is, these women didn't wait for validation.
[32:02] They just told the truth. The fact is, they weren't responsible for the response. But they were responsible for the message.
[32:14] And the fact of the matter is, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, so are you. You are responsible for the message that you are hearing this morning.
[32:25] Some of you have been quiet because you are tired of being dismissed. You have invited, you have prayed, you have spoken truth, and you have been ignored. And you start to wonder, is it worth it?
[32:37] Well, let me say this as clearly as I can. Yes. Yes, it's worth it. Because the resurrection power doesn't just live in the results. It lives in the faithfulness to speak.
[32:50] It's the truth upon which these words that bring real fruit, real life. The fact is, let God handle the impact. You handle the obedience.
[33:04] Which moves us to this fourth scene. Everyone else is still sitting in disbelief.
[33:16] These disciples seem dismissive, dull, frozen in grief. Except one of them. But not Peter.
[33:28] He's not sure what to make of it. But he knows this. He can't stay seated. Verse 12. But, the exception, Peter rose and ran to the tomb.
[33:42] Note that word, ran. He didn't linger. He didn't wait for another person to come and tell him the news. Some other form of confirmation. He didn't say the holiest words.
[33:53] Hey, let's pray about it. He moved. Now, this is a man who's failed. Who's grieved. Who's still carrying the weight of denying Jesus Christ three times.
[34:10] If there was one of the disciples that wants this to be true, it's Peter more than all the rest. And when he hears that the tomb might be empty, he runs.
[34:21] He doesn't jog. He runs. The Greek word is a... It means the same thing in English. He runs. It's a strenuous activity. Because when hope shows up, even in these whispers, you don't walk, you run.
[34:37] You chase after it. You chase after it. And what does he find? Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen clothes by themselves.
[34:48] The grave clothes were still there, but Jesus wasn't. There's no body, no soldier, no confusion, just folded cloth and confirmation. And notice it says, and he went home marveling at what had happened.
[35:05] Marveling means to be amazed, to be awestruck, to be astonished. He doesn't have all the answers yet. But he's seen enough to know that something supernatural has happened.
[35:22] The tomb is empty. And it demands more than a shrug. It demands a response. Let me cut to the chase.
[35:35] Let me say it to you straight. You can't hear that Jesus rose from the dead and stay in place. You cannot stay where you are with the understanding and knowledge that Jesus rose from the dead.
[35:51] You don't get to casually consider the resurrection. It's not just a seasonal story or an emotional moment. It's not a, wow, that's beautiful.
[36:03] The fact of the matter is, if Jesus is alive, then everything changes. Your guilt has no power.
[36:17] Your shame has no place. Your fear has no hold. And death has no sting.
[36:33] So let me ask you, how do you respond to that? Are you walking? Are you wondering? Or are you running towards the empty tomb?
[36:46] Let me tell you right now, Peter didn't have it all figured out. Peter did not have a clean past.
[36:58] Peter wasn't confident, perfect, or prepared. But he ran anyway. Because sometimes the only way to faith is to move your feet.
[37:09] You see, the resurrection isn't just something to believe. It's something that we are to chase. And when you do, like Peter, you'll find that hope runs faster than regret.
[37:21] And grace always meets you at this tomb. And then the text shifts to this fifth scene.
[37:32] We've seen the empty tomb. The angels have spoken. Peter has run. But there's two more disciples. They're confused. They're heartbroken. And they're walking away.
[37:44] They're not headed toward the upper room. They're actually leaving Jerusalem. They're actually going to the city of Emmaus, which is about seven miles outside. And in case you're not understanding, they're moving in the wrong direction.
[38:01] Verse 13, the very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus. What this is, is the walk of disappointment. This is the walk of regret.
[38:13] This is the journey you take when life doesn't go the way you wanted it. Or the way you thought it should go. They had believed in Jesus.
[38:24] They followed Jesus. But now that he's dead, they feel like hope died with them. They're talking, they're processing, they're mourning. And then, Jesus shows up.
[38:39] Notice we continue in verse 13, And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
[38:54] But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Now notice how Jesus doesn't present himself. He doesn't crash in with some loud, bold announcement. Here I am, here I am, it's Jesus.
[39:07] He just simply, quietly walks beside them. It reminds us that often the risen king doesn't always show up in power.
[39:20] But sometimes he shows up with his presence. He walks with the confused. He walks with the discouraged.
[39:32] And this tells us he even walks with those who are walking in the wrong direction. He's not offended by their doubts.
[39:46] He's not ashamed of their questions. He walks. He listens. And then he speaks. Verse 27.
[39:57] Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. If there was a great sermon to be a part of, this is it.
[40:12] Imagine this sermon. Jesus opening the Old Testament would have been the first testament. And he shows all of them how it all points to him.
[40:23] He would have talked about the seed who crushed the spirit in Genesis 3.15. He would have talked about the ram that was caught in the thicket when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac.
[40:40] He would have talked about the future Moses that would be greater than Moses. He would have talked about the Abrahamic covenant and the Davidic covenant and how it all pointed to him.
[40:54] The suffering servant, the pierced one from the book of Zechariah and the risen king from Psalm 16. All of it, every single one of those verses points to Jesus.
[41:08] And their hearts begin to burn. When they reach Emmaus, they beg him to stay. He sits down, takes bread, breaks it, give thanks. And in that moment, verse 31, their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
[41:22] Then he vanishes. And they said, did not our hearts burn within us when he talked to us on the road? Some of you are walking on a road right now that feels confusing, that feels disappointed, and perhaps even hopeless, but it's the only road you know how to walk.
[41:49] You're going in the wrong direction, but here's the thing. Jesus can still walk with you. You don't recognize him yet.
[42:01] You haven't felt or experienced that breakthrough moment yet. You haven't seen the miracle yet. But the truth of the matter is the risen Christ is alive.
[42:14] And he's by your side. And if you open the word of God, and you open your heart, and invite him in, he will open your eyes.
[42:32] It's a simple prayer. God, help me understand. Help me understand you. No matter how far down that road you might be, he is not done with you.
[42:48] The truth of this event is the risen Jesus is not just alive, he's present. He walks with his own. He speaks, he stays, he reveals. And when you see him for who he is, everything changes.
[43:01] And here's the truth. The road may be hard, your heart may be heavy, but your Savior is alive, and he walks with you. Let us give thanks for the resurrection that gives us life.
[43:16] Life. So I return in conclusion to the first question that I asked. The gospel record is inequivocal with this.
[43:29] And that is the king lives. He's risen from the grave. The question is, what are you going to do about it? For the last four weeks we've covered the story about how the king was presented and they did not understand him.
[43:44] He was rejected and they shouted, crucify him, crucify him. Crucify him. He was crucified. He bore your sin, your shame, your judgment, and now he is risen.
[43:56] The stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty. The word is fulfilled and the king lives. In fact, we read in Revelation 1.18, Jesus says, I died and behold, I am alive forevermore.
[44:11] And I have the keys of death and Hades. You have to do something with this Jesus. What this means is the cross worked.
[44:25] It means your sin was paid for. It means that death is defeated. And it means that you're not stuck. You're not too far gone. You are not too deep. You are not finished.
[44:40] But the resurrection is not just simply a celebration. It's a confrontation. It confronts every assumption you've made about life and death and it demands a decision. So here it is.
[44:52] What will you do with the risen king? You can't ignore him. You can't put him up in a shelf. You can't keep him in the tomb. He is alive and he calls.
[45:06] My friends, today is not a day to admire Easter from a distance and say it's a nice religious holiday. I get two days off. If I'm lucky. It's a day to respond.
[45:21] My encouragement to you is to be like Peter and run to him. Be like the women and go tell someone. Be like the disciples who walked the road to Emmaus and let your heart burn again.
[45:34] Because the story isn't over. The tomb is empty. And Jesus Christ is alive forever more. But he says he is coming again.
[45:46] And with him, he will have the keys to death and Hades. And I will tell you then, you will never be able to ignore Jesus when he comes again.
[45:58] Let me pray. Let me pray. Dear Lord, we just thank you for this gracious word that you give to us, Father. I pray that we can somehow relate to these women who came with hearts wanting to mourn and do the right thing.
[46:15] But to be surprised that he's not there. To be bewizzered. To be dazzled. To be astonished. To be confused. And we rejoice that they heard the word of the angel.
[46:28] That he is risen. And they told. They told the disciples. And I'm sure they kept on telling. Father, I pray that that would be our heart. That we'd be like Peter to run to him.
[46:44] We'd be like the women to go tell someone of the news of Jesus Christ. To be like the disciples and let our hearts burn again. Again. Father, let us not think that our sin is so deep that you cannot forgive us.
[47:00] Let us not think that we can have traveled down this road of disappointment so long that God can't rescue us. Father, those are lies of the evil one.
[47:11] And I pray that you would stand against these lies. That you'd bring truth to bear on our hearts. Father, if there's someone here who's thinking of you.
[47:24] I ask that you would press on them. What are they to do with you? Father, we give you thanks for this great and glorious day.
[47:36] The day that we can proudly and excitedly proclaim. He is risen. He is risen. He is risen. Father, if there's no vibration, voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy