He Has Risen!

Mark 16.1-7

These are words of wonder. What it must have like for these women that Sunday after Jesus died is beyond description. None of His disciples went at first. They were hiding for fear of the Jews.

Their emotional state was sadness filled with love. What is in your hands often reflects what is in your heart. They were carrying spices to anoint the body of Jesus. They were going to that grave with them to express their grief and love for their Master.

The spices were not necessary. Joseph of Arimithea and Nicodemus brought 75 pounds of an aloe-myrrh mixture when they laid Him in the tomb. This was an act of love. Many acts of love are not out of necessity but spontaneous. They were probably thinking some fresh spices would help. The fact is none of the spices were needed. They were behaving as is He was in the tomb. They were in for the shock and surprise of their (and everyone who has ever lived!) lives. 

Their conversation on the way shows they expected things to be just as they had left them before the Sabbath began. In their minds Jesus died and His body was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimithea. 

This shows how wrong followers of Jesus can be in their thinking about things.

The church in China after it reopened... Amazing!

The church in Iran. Fastest growing in the world right now!

The church in Haiti.

The church in Egypt.

This morning as we reflect on this account

1. God Keeps His Word.

Jesus always spoke about His death along with rising again.

His disciples were poor listeners.

*Their own ideas

*Their own aspirations

Their ideas were still back on Palm Sunday and what they thought was going to happen. By this time, a week later, they fully expected to Jesus to have redeemed Israel, set up the monarchy of David again and driven the Roman Soldiers out of the Land. Now He was dead, or so they thought.

*Their own desires

*Their own fears

The LORD is faithful to all His promises.

Luke 24.4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered His words.

The Resurrection of the Dead I Corinthians 15

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep

2. Christ Indeed Has Risen

Luke 24.34 The LORD has risen indeed, and He has appeared to Simon.

Many Post Resurrection Appearances 

Acts 1.3 After His suffering, He presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

3.  Death Has Been Defeated.

John 20.19-22

I Thessalonians 4.13-18

The grieving over loved ones who have died in the LORD will be done away with in a moment and replaced with a glad reunion.

A dear lady from the neighborhood I grew up in will be laid to rest this week. I will have the honor of officiating her service. We have faith. Carmen's aunt who died recently in Iran, another dear Christian lady... we have faith.

Yesterday a great niece of a friend of my brother Mark and I was laid to rest. She was 12. They had asked the LORD to take her to heaven because she asked them to. She had suffered so much. Her name was Audra.

Her Mom Mel wrote: Audra is at the feet of Jesus

From Mel:

Around 2:30 this morning God answered our cry for mercy. I am so grateful that Audra is no longer suffering and that she is with Jesus. I know this sounds strange, but I believe Audra won her battle with cancer. She, like the three Hebrew young men, stood before her oppressor and declared, "I will not bow to fear and unbelief." God has proven Himself to her through these last two years as Able, Willing, and Sovereign. Now no more proof is necessary because she sees. I think it's totally fitting that her last words were, "I believe, I believe You are good." Please pray for our family, that our faith can weather the storm of our emotions as we allow God to heal us. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

Please do not misunderstand. I have seen God heal people. I have seen Him do it through medicine. I have seen Him do it without any medicine or physician. I have been sensitized lately as I reflect back to the trip to Haiti in January. Pastor Joes' daughter was very sick. Art Alexander said to me during the service (yes she was there1) that we need to get her to a hospital. We prayed for her to be healed. We took her to the hospital. They stopped the bleeding then she went to another one, the Baptist Mission Hospital, the closest one to Bellevue. There they told us that if she tried to walk home from church that day she would not have made it. I have come to understand that God had us there with money to pay for her stay and if we weren't she would have died, which Paul said would be better by far.

All those who have been healed die. All those Jesus healed died! Even those Jesus raised from the dead died! C.S. Lewis wrote that, "Lazarus got the rawer deal." Mary and Martha was thrilled but poor Lazarus had to return!

The church in Egypt

The Pastor

What can we say to those who kill us?

Thank you! You gave us the blessing of dying like our LORD Jesus Christ.

You are helping fill our churches.

We love you. Jesus told us to love our enemies.

We are praying for you. Christ told us to so this.

Pray that they will come to know the love of God.

Those who lost their lives in Alexandria, Egypt last Sunday because they were followers of Jesus are at the feet of Jesus this morning with Audra.

Grief is real. We need to learn to pray our goodbyes. But here is an Eternal Hello ahead.

Jon Courson's daughter, morning devotions. Youth Pastor giving him a slip of paper. "I want to go to heaven."

John 11.25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Been doing funerals for over 38 years now. When we lose someone we are looking at the temporal. It is reality but death for the believer is being wit Christ. Billy Graham, "I wish I could die right now!"

Our faith will be sight one day!

It is not the end of History - His Story.

4. We can live in that Power Today!

"His disciples and Peter". Why was Peter singled out? At this point he needed forgiveness and encouragement. He had denied knowing Jesus just as Jesus predicted. Peter had a huge load of guilt. The angel mentioned Peter by name because he didn't feel worthy at this point to be called a disciple.

Some of you may be carrying guilt over some secret sins today. you may be beating yourself up over past failures and mistakes. Maybe your life is not what you anticipated it would be at this point. 

Jesus died to set us free from all that! Peter denied Christ three times. What was Jesus' response? He wanted Peter to know He had risen from the dead and forgave him and reinstated him. 

Some of you may be living defeated Christian lives. You are struggling over a present problem and it keeps interfering with your walk with the LORD. That all ends today!

Maybe you never have believed. Romans 10.9-10

 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.