The Resurrection | Pastor Cody Harlow July 6th, 2025 Mark 16:1-20

Okay? But there was a second time a second time that he it was offered to him and that was right at the very end. Jesus says, "I'm thirsty." And they on a hissip they put a sponge on a hissip branch and they gave Jesus some sour wine and he drank. And then he said in a declaration of victory, it is finished. And he gave up his spirit. And this was done to fulfill prophecy. The Bible said that he needed to do that. So all prophecy was fulfilled. The wrath of God now was completely satisfied. Death has been paid for. The there is no more debt left. Right? Jesus now has fully satisfied the wrath of God and paid the penalty of sin. Okay. He paid for it. Okay. So, we put that in there. And now the next thing is this. What does this represent? Cloth. It's a cloth. That's right. Amaziah. Jesus. It's a cloth for Jesus. Yeah. And what and what and what happened to Jesus after he died? He was sent to a tomb. He was sent to a tomb and he was wrapped

In pure linen cloth. Okay. I think it's I'm not sure. Yeah. He was wrapped in pure white cloth. Okay. And this represents his burial. He was buried for three days. Okay. So, he went into the tomb at the end of the first day and he stayed there for the whole of the second day. Okay. Then on the third day in the morning, what happened? He rose again. He rose again. Now, this is this is a flower. Okay. I thought it'd be kind of weird to put a little toy Jesus in here. Okay. So, this is supposed to just represent new life. Okay. When you see flowers in the springtime around Easter, right, you think, "Oh, wow. It's beautiful. New life has come." And that is what Jesus has done when he rose from the dead. Okay? He rose to life. And spiritually, when we believe in the Gospel, when we believe that Jesus suffered and died and paid the debt for our sin and believe that he rose from the dead, we then are given new life. And the Bible says that we become a new creation. And this is all wonderful, right? This is all this is the Gospel, okay? And you need to receive that. So, I'm going to give you guys each one of these things. And I would love for you guys to think about this and receive the message of the Gospel. But then at the end of Mark, as Pastor Cody's going to preach on today, Jesus rises from the dead. And then he gives instructions to his disciples. So for the people who have received this and believed it, he gives instructions and he tells them to go into the nations and baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them all that I've commanded you. Okay? To go and bring this Gospel to all the all the world, right? And we just see we have some gu special guests here today who speak a different language than us, right? And they spoke

They speak a different language than the Jews did when in that time. And because of the disciples going out into the world and bringing the Gospel, now we have Christians from all over the world speaking all sorts of different languages believing in the message of Jesus. And that is what God is calling all of us as Christians to do. So I would invite you guys to take this go over it in order understand the message and then I want you guys to share it with someone and you and give this to them and also then tell them to if they believe it to also do the same. Does that sound good? We're going to pray and then we'll go over here and I'll give you guys each one. Okay. All right. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we are thankful for the Gospel. Thank you for sending your son to die on the cross to take on the full punishment of sin that we deserved so that we may be forgiven and enjoy new life in you. We ask these for these kids that you would open up their hearts and give them new hearts to hear and receive it and that they would also have the courage to share with their friends and neighbors. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. If you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, please turn with me to the book of Mark, chapter 16. To the Dominguez family, thank you so much. We just love and appreciate you guys. Thank you for just allowing us the privilege and the honor of serving alongside of you guys. And we're so thankful for the good ministry that y'all do in Mexico, reaching people that we can't. And God has you there for a purpose and a reason. And we're so thankful in God's work through your church. Yeah. We are at the end of Mark and it's been 67 weeks

And we can all kind of breathe now. Yeah and since 2019 we have completed now seven books of the Bible. We've been through First Timothy, we've been through Exodus, Ephesians, Daniel, First Peter, Esther, and now Mark. And of course, we'll start Philippians next week. And shortly after that, we will go into Ruth. I'm thankful for especially the small groups that go through it with us. Because you get to wrestle the text and you wrestle passages that you've never wrestled with before. And the thing about the word of God is that it wrestles right back with you, doesn't it? It I it deals with our hearts, deals with our minds. And after 67 weeks, now we get to conclude with the resurrection of Jesus. In Paul's day, a motto that permeated the city of Athens read, "Once a man dies and the earth drinks up his blood, there is no resurrection." But Paul hotly disagreed. And now some may say, well, when Athens died, so did the doubt of the resurrection. That's not true. In the 19th century, there was a poem spreading around England that was caught up. It caught all sorts of people offguard. Charles Schwinberg, he wrote it and he said, "From too much love of living, from hope and fear set free. We thank with brief thanksgiving, whatever gods may be, that no life lives forever. That men dead men rise up never. That even the weiiest river winds somewhere safe to see." It's a lie, that whole thing. But that's the philosophy of the world. Dead men do rise up and there is no safety at sea apart from Jesus Christ. The truth is that the resurrection is our only hope. And today we're going to be looking at verses 1-8 and learn that the resurrection of Jesus brings true and lasting joy. It's anchored in history.

It's grounded in grace and is propelled by the promise of new life. If you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Mark chapter 16 verses 1-8. God's word it says this. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Saleom bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe. And they were alarmed. And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb. For trembling and astonishment had seized him. And they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. Let's pray. Our wonderful, gracious father in heaven, we just thank you for this day that we have to honor you and lift up your name because you are great and you are worthy. You are good and we just absolutely adore you and we thank you for the freedom that Christ purchased for our sins on the cross. We thank you for the joy of our salvation. And we thank you for our nation and the freedoms that we enjoy. And we pray for our leaders. We plead for wisdom from you for them. We ask that you would just lead them. Just make them help them to make the best possible decisions for our sake for the sake of the Gospel. Lord, we pray for protection for our nation and

Our leaders. And we thank you and how you're working all things out to the good of those who love you and are called according to your purposes. Lord, we want to remember our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. There are so many acts of persecution happening in Africa and in Asia. Lord, there's there's so many folks that are u suffering all for the sake of your name. And we pray that you would help them to endure with patience to the end. We thank you for our brothers and sisters in Christ that are here from Waka. Thank you for Yubaldo and Elena, the good work of ministry that's happening down there in Mexico. We plead for you to continue to do a great work in the ministry that we continue to bear fruit and that fruit would remain according to your goodwill and pleasure. We pray for our brothers and sisters here at church and there's so many that are dealing with health issues and griefs and challenges. Lord, you know all of them. But we just want to specifically remember to you Sandy Brewer as she mourns the loss of her brother. We pray that you would just grant peace to her and to the rest of her family during this time. We want to remember Steve Bis as they have visitation this upcoming Saturday for his mom. We pray for Steve's dad and his family as they receive friends and they grieve together and as they have her funeral the next Monday. Just pray that it would be a celebration of life and great joy. And Father, we want to continue to lift up to you Steve Warren as he recovers from his surgery. Pray that you would grant him healing. And we thank you for the surgery where Staples were able to come out without any issues. We want to continue to pray for Denny Johnson as she goes through chemo. And we just pray that you give her energy and that you would help her to beat this cancer in the name of Jesus. We pray that you

Would give Vern endurance and focus as he ministers to his wife throughout this season. It's been a long one. It's been a hard road for them. Not only for them, but for Christy and Josh and just the whole family. We pray for a long season of rest and restoration for them. And this morning, we pray that you would speak to our hearts, that you would give us open minds to understand your word. Please Lord, anoint me and help me to give the glory and honor to you the power of the resurrection. Lord, may that be the message that we leave here today with. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Y'all go ahead and have a seat. Humans naturally seek things that make them happy, don't they? The happiness of Americans is at an all-time low. No surprise there, right? Washington Post article published in 2017 featured a survey asking Americans this question. So taken altogether, how would you say that things are these days? Would you say that you're very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy? Now that article, it showed that Americans in 2017 were it was at an all-time low. And I don't think that's improved in the eight years since, of course. And you look at that survey, it was a survey that started being conducted back in the 60s. And in 1993, that's when it was the highest among Americans. And so the question then becomes, well, why are Americans so sad? And what they found is that there's a direct correlation between the amount of time that you spend on the internet and social media and the happiness that you have. And for those of you that are on social media, you probably know how that feels. But we're not talking about happiness today, are we? We're talking about joy. There's a big difference between happiness and joy.

The world offers joy, offers things like that. And the joy that the world offers comes from exterior outside factors. It promises satisfaction from position and money and circumstances and toys and all these different things. But those things are fickle and they're subject to our whims and our desires at any given moment. The fact is that we have something that the world does not have and that is Christian joy. Joy is a fruit of the spirit and Christian joy is founded in a strong relationship with the Lord God. It's not subject to our circumstances. That means that it can't be lost and we can continue to experience joy even in the midst of deep sorrow. You know, we look at the world and how people are they battle with things. We look at one of our childhood favorites, Amber and I, we loved watching like, you know, Flubber and Mrs. Doubtfire and movies like that with Robin Williams. You guys remember him? He struggled with depression. He struggled with addiction and even though he showed joy and laughter and spread it everywhere, he himself was depressed. And in his 2014 note that he left after taking his own life, he described himself as being insensitive and unable to find any kind of joy. Kirk Cabain, he was the lead singer of Nirvana. He had flame he had glo global fame. He had musical success. He struggled with depression and addiction and emptiness. 1994 he wrote that he was not able to find any joy in his life despite his success. Virginia Wolf, she was an award-winning author. She explored the themes of joy and despair. She herself in 1941 left a note about how she could not find any joy or hope in her life. You see the world, it offers everything. It offers fame, it offers money, it offers hope, it offers joy, it offers

Being loved by the public, it offers awards and prestige and intellectual stimulation and pleasure and much, much more. But ultimately leaves everyone feeling more and more empty and meaningless. Meanwhile, Jesus Christ, he left the tomb empty, but it was by no means meaningless. Our passage, it begins with an unexpected surprise. You see, the Sabbath, it was from 700 p.m. On Friday night all the way until 7 p.m. On Saturday, roughly. The markets in Jerusalem, they would open up on those Saturday evenings to sell spices. And that's when Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Saleom bought those spices. They wouldn't have been able to go to the tomb because it was too far of a trek for them to go and properly anoint Jesus, but they wanted to get there first thing in the morning on Sunday, the first day of the week. And they went to the tomb. And these women, they were followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary Magdalene was especially faithful as she had been delivered from seven demons. They were present at the crucifixion and at least two of them had seen where Christ had been laid. They had seen Jesus be anointed by Nicodemus and they desired to bring their own offering to the Lord. It was one final act of love, one final act of devotion where they would cover the decomposing body of Christ to mask the pungent smell of decay and composition. Some Gospels they say that the sun had risen and some Gospels say it was dark. Is that a contradiction? No. If you've ever been up early before sunrise, I hope that you have. You know that kind of blue time when the world is just nothing but that kind of dusky color where you can see but the sun is definitely not up yet but it kind of is. You could say it is but that's the time that the authors are describing. It was

Early morning and the sun was lighting everything but yet it was still dark. And the question came who's going to roll away the stone? Mark, he notes that this is a very large stone. The stone on a on an average tomb at this time was about three and a half feet in diameter. So about that tall. Three and a half ft. Looks a lot taller on me because I'm so short. But and it's it was about a foot and a half, maybe two feet thick. It was it was it was it was stout. But this is described as a large stone. It's not your average stone. It's a very heavy stone. It's big. Probably about four to four and a half feet high, probably at least two feet thick. And this would have required at least 10 strong men with tools in order to budge this five ton stone. There's no indicator that these women know about the resurrection at all. They're there to prepare a body. They apparently don't even know that the Jews established Roman guards at this site. In fact, when they arrive, they see the tomb is open and that the stone is rolled away. And in all of the Gospel accounts, you have this empty tomb that is being discovered by women. And that is important evidence for the resurrection account that it is indeed true. It is a historical fact. You see, in the first century, Jews, they did not allow for women to even testify in court. It was considered unreliable. And so, if people are making up the story, you know what they're not going to use? They're not going to use the testimony of women. But because it was a historical fact, they put it in them, and they were primary witnesses to the resurrection. And that's what God chose. That's who God chose to reveal himself to. The women, they still don't know about the resurrection yet. They are still in the dark, so to speak. Because all that they've seen is a stone rolled away. It

Stood as an opening to the spiritual world that of darkness that the king is alive. And it stood open as an invitation for everyone to come and see Christ is not here. He is risen. And the women, they took that invitation. They entered the tomb. They see a young man sitting there. And then he says, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place that they laid him." Jesus had defeated death. And no one really knew it yet. But Jesus, he was proving this unchanging law that had been had been established that it's humiliation that brings exaltation. Look at Matthew chap 23:12. It says, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." And the Scriptures are replete with this teaching. Look at First Peter 5:6. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. I don't want you guys to miss this. Christ's humiliation was a massively cosmic event. He created everything in the universe. Every little speck of cosmic dust, every supernova, every star, he counts them and he calls them by name. He made every single color, every single flower, every single animal from mighty Everest to the Grand Canyon to you. And he made everything. And why did he make everything? He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeeminent. But even though Jesus Christ being very God of very God, the creator became

Flesh and he himself became a human child. And when he was 33 years old, he allowed himself to be stripped down, naked, beaten, crucified, and killed. He suffered separation from the father as he bore our sins on the cross. And there was no greater humiliation in the entirety of the cosmotic history. I don't even know if that's a word, but you know what I mean. And there will never ever be a humiliation like that. But the resurrection flips that around completely, doesn't it? What was the absolute worst event in all of human history was the crucifixion of Christ. And yet it's through that he became our salvation. And he proves his place through the resurrection. Just proves to us that joy comes to us in some of the most difficult situations. You see, it's when we're at our lowest, at our weakest, at our most desperate place, in the worst possible situations that we can clearly see God's power in greater ways in our lives. We see this in all throughout the Scriptures with Joseph's life, right? Falsely accused by potter for his wife, placed in a prison for years. He's there for years. And however, God, he was still at work. He was working out salvation for the people of God to fulfill his promises. And God proved his faithfulness. When Israel was destroyed by Babylon, Daniel and his friends were taken back into the land of Babylon. They were forced to assimilate into that society. And yet God was working out a way to restore the land to his people through Ezra and Nehemiah. In the 1730s and 40s, the church in America was full of Phariseism and cold dead morality. You had good people that were lost. They weren't they weren't

Christians. And that's what the pastors said back then. And yet God, he brought revival through the preaching of men like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. And you had the great awakening. And it prepared our nation's heart for the American Revolution. You know, the British, they called the American Revolution the Presbyterian Revolt. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? It's an inherently religious thing. God. He was always at work. Even when we don't see him working in the tomb, he was still at work. And he is always moving history towards his own purposes and he will do so however and whenever he wishes. You know, when China fell to the communists, China expelled all of the missionaries and it shut down all of the churches. Of course, that's not the way that you kill Christianity. That's the way that cause to spread. And so what happened is that the underground church that continued to grow from hundreds to thousands to now millions to where it's anticipated by 2030 there's going to be more Christians in China than there will be in America, Protestant Bible believing Christians. And we give glory to God for that. You know these women, they're thinking about who's going to remove the stone. But you know what? God had already taken care of that, didn't he? Oftentimes, we start thinking about all the obstacles. We start thinking about them as the main thing, but God, he calls us to trust him. He's going to take care of all the obstacles. We're called to trust God in the meantime. We're called to trust God in his timing. And so, we know here the angel's announcement. The angel's message to the women is clear. Jesus is alive. That's pretty helpful, isn't it?

The women, they had no clue what happened. And some Gospels, they were saying, you know, who took the body? Where did you lay Jesus? That's what Mary asked the gardener, just tell me where you laid my Lord. And then Jesus reveals himself to Mary and he says, Mary, what does she say? Athena said it this morning in our community group. Raboni, master. You see, the empty tomb was not necessarily just proof of the resurrection, right? It helps us to ask the follow-up question, the one that begs the question, what happened to Jesus's body? But the angel cuts to the chase. He's not here. He is alive. He is risen. Come and see where they laid him. And how did Jesus come back to life? Jesus, he possessed all authority and he laid down his life and he said that he could take it up again according to John 10 verse 18. No one takes my life from me. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. The New Testament also teaches that was the father that raised Jesus from the dead. Blessed be the Lord God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. There you have the resurrection being directly tied to the father. But then you also have the Holy Spirit. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal body through his spirit who dwells in you. So are these contradictions? No, not at all. It points to the trinitarian unity of God that each member participated in the work of the resurrection just as they did at the creation of the world in humanity. Let us make man in our image

Is what God said. The resurrection is a true and historical event. It's not a metaphor. It's not a symbol. The resurrection is a reality. And if the resurrection is a reality, then Christ is truly God. And he calls you to trust in him. The angel, he gives this message to the women and he tells them, "Go tell all of Jesus's disciples to go and meet him in Galilee. Go tell his disciples and Peter." And Peter. Why Peter? Well, there's two reasons. One, he's the key leader of the disciples, and he often spoke to Jesus on their behalf. But also, if you remember, it was Peter who denied Christ. It was Peter that was in need of being restored to Jesus Christ. And Jesus was going to go ahead of his disciples and he was removing any obstacles along the way because they had an appointment with their rabbi, with their Messiah, with their God. Now, this is the foundation of all Christian joy. And for me, I'm discovering this a lot more as I get older and wiser, maybe more as pastor. You see, one day we won't have all the stuff that we have to deal with on a daily basis. We won't have sickness anymore. There won't be any more pain. I think about those little ones down in Texas, the ones that are missing, the ones that whose bodies have been recovered and the grief that those families feel. Well, one day we're not going to have that kind of stuff happen anymore. It won't exist. There won't be devastation. We think about hurricanes and tornadoes and floods and the threat of nuclear apocalypse and all these different things. Christian, our lives are just a simple vapor and then it's gone. But our eternity is secure. One of these days, we're not going to have to worry about those things. We

Won't have to worry about disharmony in the church because we're going to have a perfect priest that rules over all of us. Amen. Amen. We won't have to ask for musicians. We won't have to worry about AV people anymore. We won't have to worry about cancer or bills. We won't have to worry about budget stuff. There won't be depression. There won't be anxiety. There won't be mental disorders. There's no chronic sickness in eternity. Praise God. Amen. All this stuff is temporary. And yet, right now, this is where we are. And so, we must endure with hope that we are creatures of eternity. That our devotion lies to God who holds us for all eternity. The resurrection, it gives us hope because we're delivered from suffering eternally. And we gain Christ for all of our days. That's the core. That's the center of our joy. And it's the truth that powers believers to endure with great joy. No matter what the circumstances are, no matter what life throws at us, we are secure. See, the resurrection gives us hope. And this angel, he shares a message from the Lord to Peter. Come and meet me in Galilee. And if that's an invitation for a traitor like Peter who denied him publicly, then you can have comfort that the Gospel is for you too. That Jesus, he beckons you to come to him and to seek him and to find him. And the women, they're shocked. They're astonished. They're fearful. And the Gospel writers, they share a torrent of emotions. But Mark, he's emphasizing the fear and the astonishment. Others, other authors are going to show the joy and sometimes the confusion. But what Peter he focuses on here is actually the

Fearful silence. These women were afraid. What would they say? You see, the resurrection, it doesn't just magically bring about courage. Truth is that it should move us to faithful witness. And the truth is that they were so overwhelmed and the silence is there to help us to end help us to know we're supposed to go and tell like all the other Gospel writers like Matthew 28. You know, he gives us this wonderful strong commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel and make disciples of all the nations and teach them to observe. And yet here Mark, he ends with they didn't say anything for they were afraid. And we kind of go, what do you mean? What do you mean? Like that can't be it. And that's the point. Now, for most of you, you're probably reading in your Bible and there's probably this little bracket there that says something along lines like mine says some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16 9-20. Anybody else's say that if you got copy of your word, right? Okay. All right. It's why I'm not preaching it. Okay. This is the longest part of the New Testament that was not included by the original writers. We know this because the early church fathers didn't have any clue about the longer ending of Mark. Here the earliest is Arinius. He lived from 130 to 22 202 and he comments about that. But this is the earliest Gospel written about 66 to 70 AD. And so some people will say, you know, why is all this in brackets or why is John 8 in brackets? Well, it's because the oldest and therefore more accurate manuscripts don't include this. It's part of the reason why. Secondly, there's 18 new words that Mark does not use at all.

Thirdly, there is a sentence structure that's completely different. It just doesn't fit with how Mark writes. The additions actually here, the reasons why they were added, and there's nothing like bad in here, right? There's there's nothing really really awful in this passage. But the early church, they looked at this, they were like, "That's just a terrible way to end this. Let's take Matthew, Luke, and John, and let's fill in the gaps that we don't see." You know, that way as this endures, people can see that there's a commission there that we're supposed to go and take this. And then of course you do have that strange part found there in Mark 16:17-18 about the signs that accompany those who believe that they will cast out demons and they will speak in new tongues. They will pick up serpents with their hands. If they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover. Now of course that's taken to the nth extreme, right? You know, where you got people in my old area of Virginia, you had churches that literally dance with rattlesnakes and coral snakes and copperheads and cotton mouths and stuff like that. It's not what this passage means. I know I just looked out there and I just saw a couple of young people doing this, right? And so we look at this, right? And I would encourage you, there's a young man his name is Wes Huff that studies a lot of this and he's got a great video on this that you can you can go look at. There's hundreds of videos out there where you can go and look at the scholarships and the reasons behind it. It's fascinating. But I believe that Mark ends at verse 8. And what it does is it beckons the question that we've asked from the beginning. And it's Mark's continuing theme. And it's why we kept asking this question all the way through this

Gospel, which is, "What will you do with Jesus Christ?" We've asked that probably about 67 times through the book of Mark. Mark 1 begins with the Gospel. Mark 16 ends with the resurrection. And in typical Mark fashion, it's done. It's just the facts. And so, what will you do with Jesus Christ? You see, you have to actually believe the resurrection in order to be saved. You have to intellectually receive it as a historical fact. But just receiving it as a fact does not get it to your heart. Romans chapter 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." And it is saving faith that goes from the head to the heart. It grapples our mind in despair to think, "I am a wretched person. How can I be saved?" And it moves the heart and it grasps it with love for Christ and submits it with joy to the will of God. And for Mark's audience and for those who are in Rome, the slave that suffers under a severe master, the wife who is treated like a secondass citizen, the man who fights for Roman glory, for the Christian who has no fear in death, we base that hope in the glory of Christ's resurrection. He conquered the grave. He promised victory for all who come to him in faith. Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, he said to his congregation one Easter Sunday, and I'll read this to you. He said, "This morning, as I look over this evil, sinful world, it does not depress me because I expect from it nothing better." It's a really good opening sentence. Whatever may be going against me, whatever may be happening in my own body, this is what I must expect because of sin. But though I die, I shall rise again. I shall see him face to face. I shall see him as he is. And I shall be like him. Like him in a glorified body with every power renewed. And I shall be

Living in a realm that is incorruptible and undefiled. A realm that can never fade away. This is the hope, the living hope of the resurrection. That is the message of this Easter morning. That hope is absolutely safe and secure. The resurrection itself guarantees it all. Every enemy has been destroyed. Christ has conquered them. Everyone. You see, the resurrection is not simply a component of the Gospel message. It is the pinnacle of our of the Gospel message. It's the axiom of our atonement, the bedrock of our belief. It is the cornerstone of our confession. It gives durability to the downtrodden. It gives faith to the fickle and glory to the godly. It is a haven for the hurried, illumination for the ignorant, and brings joy to the jaded. I can go on because I wrote all the ABCs there. It is the key for those kicked out. It is liberation for those who are lamenting. It is mercy for those who are miserable. The open tomb declares openly that if you are nasty, obstinate, pessimistic, or quaking that Jesus is alive and he offers rest, salvation, and transformation for all who know him. He is uploading to the unhappy. He is victory for the vulnerable and welcoming to the weary. He is excellent in every way and he can be yours and you can be his. The resurrection is the zenith of human events and prompts our zealous affections for the king of Zion. Amen. [Applause] God. He wants you to know that the resurrection of Jesus is a true historical event that serves as the foundation of Christian hope and joy. The resurrection, it's not a myth. It's not a metaphor. It is a record of divine intervention in history. The empty tomb, the angel's message, the eyewitness testimony of the women affirm the truth that Jesus physically rose from the

Dead. And it's not just the periphery, but the pinnacle of our faith heart. God, he wants you to believe that Jesus's resurrection secures your eternal joy even in the midst of suffering and uncertainty. Because Christ was raised, humiliation leads to exaltation. And suffering leads to glory. And despair gives way to joy for the Christian. And so what I want to emphasize to you is that the resurrection is not only a doctrine for you to just affirm, but it's a reality that transforms our view of hardship and grief. Lastly, hand, God wants you to respond to the resurrection with bold faith, for you to trust Jesus, to tell others, and to live in hope. Like the women at the tomb who were told to go and tell. We too are called to speak out. So don't let fear or hesitation or silence win. Proclaim the risen Christ with your words, with your life, with your actions. And if you're a Peter, okay, ashamed of failing or anything like that, remember that you are still invited to follow Jesus Christ. At this time we are going to move into our time of communion. This is a great opportunity for you to examine yourself, examine your walk with Christ. And I want to invite brother Steve to come forward as he leads us during our communion time. Okay, we as a church first Sunday of each month. Sure enough, here it is. First Sunday of the month. So, we're here to celebrate what Jesus has done for us through his death, through his resurrection. I use the word celebrate a lot when we talk about communion. And then we go and we talk about that he gave his body for us. He died. He bled for us. So what's to celebrate? So I'd like to read a couple of verses that tie that together for us. First one is in the book of Romans chapter 6

And the whole chapter really talks about it. But in verse five it says for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. So his death set the scene for our life. The fact that Jesus died on the cross wasn't just a Roman event, an execution. It was a payment for us. We have sinned. And the payment or the penalty of sin is death. But and later on in Romans, you read that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. And that's what we're celebrating. Communion gives us that remembrance. We do it in remembrance of him. But what we're remembering is what he did for us. Just amazing. So, as we take communion, I would not caution but advise that if you don't know that you have this free gift of eternal life from the Lord, pass it by. There's nothing really to celebrate for you. Those of you who are born again believers, here we are. We can celebrate what he's done for us. So, in Romans or excuse me, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we're given some instruction on how the early church celebrated the Lord's supper and how we can as well. This is Paul writing to the Corinthian church. He says, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he'd given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." So, let's go to the Lord now and thank him. And we thank you, Father, for what you have done for us through the giving of your body. And we pray that as we meditate on this now that we would just be drawn to you in thanksgiving for the

Love that you've shown for us. Help us to return that love to you in Christ's name. Amen. If you pass it out now, while the elements are being passed out, take that time to just reflect on what the Lord has done for you and will do for you. [Music] Thank you, Father. Let's eat together. We read on in 1 Corinthians 11, the next two verses says, "In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Go ahead and pass out the elements again while they're coming around. U reflect on what the Lord has done. The awesomeness of how he changed the course of every one of our lives. [Music] Father, thank you. Let's drink together. At this time, deacons, if y'all want to go ahead and have a seat, I want to take a moment and introduce to you Trent Clayton. He said, "I want to come forward and join the church this Sunday." And so, if y'all would welcome Trent up here. And he said he's come up and he said I want to be a member of this church and we said amen. He's given good testimony of knowing the Lord and growing in the Lord by leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. And so I thank the Lord for his work in your life. He's been here I don't know probably about two years or so on and off. And so he said this is a church where we want to be or where I want to be. And so if y'all as members would say, "Amen." Any opposed. All right. Awesome. Praise the Lord. Be sure to come up and hug his neck and get his information. We're so thankful. I'm glad to be your pastor.

Can I pray for you? Lord, thank you for Trent and thank you for the work that you're doing within our church. God and through the ministry that of just all of my brothers and sisters that are here. I just pray that you would bless us as we go from here to go and celebrate our brothers and sisters from Waka and just pray that you would just bless the time out at Haha Tonka. Please hold off the weather in Jesus name. Amen.