April 21, 2025 • 20 mins
In this Easter Message, Pastor Joe unpacks the unexpected meaning of Christ's resurrection, asking each of us to look beyond our past and embrace a future filled with God's promise. Even the disciples didn't believe what Christ said, that he must be crucified, die, and rise, but we live in the knowledge of the Resurrection as the church today! We are a post-resurrection church, which means we have hope!
The resurrection isn't just a historical event, but a daily invitation to live with anticipation, wonder, and purpose. Whether you're seeking hope, wrestling with doubt, or simply wanting to understand the deeper meaning of Easter, this message will uplift your spirit and renew your perspective on life's greatest miracle.
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Episode Transcript
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Pastor Joe Liles (00:00):
You guys can give it up for the TNC house.
(00:04):
Man One more time. Bring it someworship this morning, some
absolute worship. Um, you know,as as I was thinking about
Easter Sunday, we looked at theweather all week, and rain can't
stop you from coming to EasterSunday. Let's give it up for
making it to Easter Sunday.
There's a lot that goes on onEaster and so many hands are
involved, to come to a day whenwe find hope again, when we find
(00:30):
this peace that we're lookingfor, and this is a day where I
love to think about it in thisway, is that you can't go back
to what it was. There's no wayto go back to yesterday. You You
cannot go back to you have tounderstand that the resurrection
makes us new. We live in areality that is called a post
resurrection reality, whichmeans that we have new life. And
(00:52):
I love this moment at the tomb,because it's still not what we
expect. What we talked about inGood Friday is that those who we
would have expected to gather atthe Cross were not there. Those
who said they were loyal toJesus and would be with them
forever and would follow himwherever he goes, were not at
the cross. And yet we find itagain on the tomb three days
(01:12):
later, when Jesus rose from thedead, that those who we expected
to be there and who knew of thestory, didn't expect it would
happen. Still, there was stillthis. I have worship, and I
doubt I have faith, but I havequestions, and I just don't
think there were any different.
(01:33):
I think really, we come to thistext just like the disciples do
in the and the women who came tomeet Jesus at the tomb and
prepare his burial. I think wecome to Jesus in the same way on
Easter I really do. So I want tostart with the Scripture. I want
to start with the Scripture andread this story to you of when
Jesus rose from the dead andwhat happened at the tomb. And
so I want us to open up ourBibles. We love Bibles. In the
(01:55):
church. We have a mission herethat everyone would bring a
Bible to church. And so thatmeans a couple things. One, if
you got the good book, raise itup. We love Bibles. And there
they are. Wow, look at all thoseBibles out there today. I love
it. If you don't have a Bible,that's okay a couple things. One
is that we have Bible boxesaround the church, so you can
get up and grab we actually havekids Bibles in there now too.
And so you can grab a studyBible or kids Bible. If you
(02:16):
don't have one at home, you cankeep that Bible. And then also,
we're on the Bible app, so ifyou got a smartphone, raise that
up right. Raise that up. There'san app for the Bible. It's
really incredible. So if you'rescrolling on other apps and not
reading scripture, lots ofprayers, lots of prayers. So
because it exists and it'sthere, your choice, but you can
download that. We have a chairback card in front of you that
says the Bible app. You candownload that Bible app. We have
(02:38):
an event on there called theneighborhood church for Easter,
and you can follow on theScripture and the notes, and you
can save that so you can go backand do it, look in the past. And
if you're joining us on Facebookand YouTube, we love that. Thank
you for joining us online. Andthere's a link in the
description where you can alsoconnect with the Bible app also.
So we're going to be in Lukechapter 24 and remember, read
verses one through 12 today, onethrough 12. And here's the
(03:00):
interesting part about thestory. We are not going to get
to the part where they seeJesus, and I intentionally
stopped before that. We're goingto get to the part where they
discover the tomb is empty, butnot when they meet Jesus after
the resurrection. Because I feellike a lot of us get to that
point and then we wonder what'snext. We get to the point where,
(03:21):
like, hold on, where's Jesus inmy life? And we want the moment
where we see Jesus, and I wantto give us the moment where they
say, Hey, who are you lookingfor? Are you looking to for the
person that already told youwhat was going to happen?
Because that's happened, and Iwant you to hear that story
right now. So this is Lukechapter 24 and if you're this is
the first time opening the Biblefor you. Luke is in the New
Testament. It's one of the fourGospels. So there are four
(03:44):
gospels that tell the story ofJesus Christ from birth all the
way to resurrection andascension in some of the
Gospels. And they're basicallyfour different perspectives of
how to understand the story ofJesus from different viewpoints.
Some top talk about Jesus as,you know, the divine Son of God.
Some talk about Jesus as themiracle worker, right? And
they're all different people whowalked with Jesus, and as they
(04:06):
walked, understood differentperspectives of Jesus. And so
we're in the Gospel of Luke,Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So
if you're turning your Bible,and you find any of those, you
can get to Luke, chapter 24 andit's the last book, or last
chapter of the book, and Gospelof Luke. And here's what it
says. But on the first day ofthe week, at early dawn, they
(04:28):
came to the tomb. And when theysay they what they mean is that
there were some women that hadwalked with Jesus to the cross.
Had been with Jesus during kindof this moment where he was
taken to the crucifixion andeverything else. And they had
gone back home, and now theywere coming back to prepare
things, and as they were comingback to prepare things, they're
now gathered with him, and so isit again. They came to the tomb
taking spices that they hadprepared. They found the stone,
(04:52):
which is placed in front of thetomb, rolled away from the tomb,
but when they went in, they didnot find the. Body while they
were perplexed, which I love asa scripture words while they
were perplexed about this,suddenly, two men in dazzling
clothes stood beside them. Thewomen were terrified and bowed
(05:14):
their faces to the ground, butthe men said to them, Why do you
look for the living among thedead. He is not here, but has
risen. Remember how he told you,while he was still in Galilee
that the Son of Man must behanded over to sinners and be
crucified and on the third dayrise again. Then they remembered
(05:36):
his words, and returning fromthe tomb, they told all this to
the 11, the disciples and to allthe rest. Now it was Mary
Magdalene and Joanna and Mary,the mother of James and the
other women with them, who toldthis to the apostles. But these
words seem to them in idle tale,and they did not believe them,
(06:01):
but Peter, Peter got up and heran to the tomb, stooping and
looking in, he saw the linenclods by themselves, and then he
went home, amazed at what hadhappened here ends the Gospel
reading. So if I were to askyou, hearing someone and
(06:24):
followers of Jesus, the women inthe story, go to the tomb and
see that the tomb is empty, andhear from two men, angels in
dazzling white, saying, Why doyou look for the living among
the dead? He told you he isrisen. And they go back and they
say, Ah, he is risen. And thedisciples thought it was a, what
an idle tale. The whole ministryof Jesus, they hear, it's true,
(06:51):
and they say, What? It's an idletale. And yet, Peter, faithful,
Peter runs to the tomb and see,I love this, because I think
there's times when we questionJesus that we too, try to run to
God, right? There's times in ourlife when we don't have a path
and we don't know what's goingon. And so we take this moment
to run to God, and we wonder,Where is God in our life? And so
(07:14):
we start taking these stepstowards God, but that wonder
just increases and increases andincreases, saying, I wonder
where God is at in my life. Andthat actually happens twice in
this text. The first time is inverse four, when it says that
they were perplexed. Did youguys hear that? I love that word
in Scripture, because it doesn'tsound like it's coming from,
like, you know, around Jesus'stime, I'm perplexed. Like, it
(07:37):
doesn't sound like, that's whatthey would say. Oh, interesting.
You know, I guess what's goingon? No, what's happening is it's
a word that means to be withouta way or a path. They were lost.
They wondered where Jesus was atwhen they wondered. It means
that they were lost. And thesame thing happens to Peter,
(08:00):
that amazed word is also he wasfilled with wonder. But those
are two different types ofwonder, right? One is to be
lost, and a one is a wonder thatsays, I'm actually kind of
amazed at what's going on.
There's a wonder and awe aboutit. And so we have these two
different perspectives. But whatI love about Peter, when he
comes to the wonder is that heran to the tomb. And this is
(08:22):
where we get some of our firstlessons from the Scripture. And
I think there are three lessonsthat we need to hear from this
Easter scripture. But in orderto understand it, I want to take
you through an experience that Ihad that I think relates really
well to understanding what itmeans to run to the tomb at
expectation. So how many of youever participated in track when
(08:42):
you were in high school oranything other we have some
track people. How many of youever seen a track race? Right?
And okay, great. So we got a lotof people seen a track race, and
so the stands tend to get reallyexcited when there's a race
going on. In other gospels, itsaid that the two disciples
raced to the tomb to try tooutrun one another. And my
daughter is in track, and sheruns the 400 and the four by
(09:02):
four and the 200 and the four bytwo, and the 400 is a really
long race. It's a grueling race.
It's one lap around the track asfast as you can go, and it's
about the extent of what peoplecan do. And at the end of it,
you just kind of collapse on theground and thank God that you're
still alive. That's basicallythe end of the 400 everyone's
very faithful at the track meet,because they always thank God.
(09:23):
And so my daughter is runningthis, and I'm excited because
she runs the four by four. Now,the four by four is the last
event, the four by two is thefirst event. So we get to spend
five and a half hours at a trackmeet, which is super
so she runs the last event,which is a four by four. And I
want to take you through this,because as a dad, I get kind of
(09:44):
passionate. I get kind ofexcited and and I'm excited to
see where she's at. But everymeet this year she is she's the
anchor leg in the four by four,and every meet this year she has
gotten the baton where she isnot close enough to the person
in front of her, like 70 to 100Yards away from that person, and
the person behind her is too faraway, so she just runs a lap
(10:04):
around the track. And I'm like,I just wish she could race
someone. I wish she could feelthat like that racing of someone
to go to. So a couple meets ago,there was someone coming up
behind her, and I wanted tomotivate her, so she was coming
around the last lap in the 300and I looked I was like, Kaylee,
they're catching you. Run.
They're coming up behind you.
(10:24):
You're gonna get caught. Andshe's just gone, relax though,
don't exist. That's not how youlook. And so she ran, didn't let
the person catch her, and thenshe comes up. She's like, Dad,
those girls on my team told methat girl wasn't even close to
me. I was like, she wasn't evenclose to you. I was like, even
close to you. I was like, Ijust, I just wanted you to run
(10:45):
faster. I was like, what? Right?
Watch where I'm going with this.
Sometimes that's how we run fromour past. Okay, sometimes we
feel like our past is chasingus. But I'm going to make today
a new day. Sometimes you feellike something behind you is
(11:07):
catching you. Sometimes you feellike where you've come from is
maybe not good enough to be madenew today. And I want to start
that Jesus is doing somethingnew now I want to take you to
what happened last week. Whathappened last meeting is Kelly
got started, and the girl infront of was like 60 yards away
from her, which is a world ofdifference in the track meet.
She was already around the curveright. And Kaylee started
(11:27):
running. She's only got twomeets left. And I'd tell it
might not be the right language,but I'd tell Kaylee to go
hunting. And I was like, gohunting. Girl, go hunting. And
what that means is, go get hergo get her right. And so I was
like, Go get her right, andKaylee starts off, and she can
see her, and they're runningaround the track, and she gets
the back straight away, and allof a sudden she's catching up.
(11:49):
And I'm running down the stands,and I got my phone, and I'm
trying to get to her the 300 I'mrunning. I see her catch I'm
like, Oh my God, and she'scoming around the 300 right, and
she's getting around that curve,and this girl's slowing down,
and Kaylee's catching I'm like,Oh, it's a race. And I was, I
(12:09):
hear we and you could see thatpeople. I'm like, is that your
daughter? I'm like, That's mydaughter, right. There she go,
my Kaylee. Get her. Kaylee, gether. And she's running around
that 400 and she comes over andshe's running now, she hits the
last 100, right in front of thewhole stands, and, ah, she's
going great for him. Ah, shelooks like this. And she's
(12:30):
running. I can see her catchingher, and I can see her catch
her. I can see her getting closeand close and go. And she's
running all the way down. Andnow I'm all the way at the back
of the 100, and I'm justscreaming, get her. Kaylee, go
for it. Kaylee, she's in fourthplace right now, like, she's
trying to get third, like, it'snot even for the win. Like this
is, like, the first group'salready finished, second group's
already finished. Like, we'reout, right? So this is just,
(12:51):
like, a personal thing, and soshe's running for that 400 and
right before the end of the 400right? I think she can do it.
I'm we're all yelling, thisdancer cheering, right? And
she's right there, three yardsaway, three yards away, and she
bought. She finishes right shefinished. I'm just screaming. I
(13:11):
run under there says, like, bestrace of the year. This is
amazing. I can't believe it.
This is incredible. I was like,I love what's happened here. I
was like, this is where it's at.
And I realized that when she hadsomeone in front of her to look
at, she treated that race alittle bit different. See the
(13:32):
the first part that I see inthis text is Jesus is always on
the move. Jesus is not in thetomb. But sometimes we are
looking for Jesus where he wasin our life, not where he's
going. Sometimes we need to seeJesus in front of us, leading us
(13:56):
so that we are walking on thepath, not lost, but that we have
an anticipation that things aregoing to change, we have an
anticipation that our life won'tbe the same. We run to that tomb
to look in, not with unexpectednature, not with maybe this
didn't happen, but with that,what's going to happen next? If
this is true, what else doesthat mean? See, I think we
(14:20):
should stop looking for Jesuswhere he was at those times in
our life that you got throughand we felt God, but we don't
need to stay there. Today is anew day. Now we're looking for
Jesus where Jesus is going.
That's the promise that's beingrevealed here. And I love it,
because the women went first andthey came back to the apostles.
The people would walk with Jesuslike it's true. Everything's
(14:42):
true. The angels told us it wastrue. And what did the disciples
do? They say, No, no, it's anidle tale. I have to go see for
myself. See. And that's thesecond lesson that I take from.
The scripture. The second lessonthat I take from the Scripture
(15:03):
is that people are going toshare their experience of God
with you and the disciples.
Response could have been he saidthis to us. Peter could have
said three times he told methis, and I told him it wasn't
true, and you're telling me it'strue, like that's my experience
of God too, that God's there forme, that that Jesus said He
(15:25):
would rise from the dead. Thatcould have been Peter's
response, but it said he said, Idon't believe you. Let me go see
for myself. See what I believeis when people share their
experience of God with you, yourtestimony validates their truth.
And if you don't share aboutyour experience, of God, how are
they going to know that it'strue too? That conversation
(15:48):
between the disciples and thewomen could have been this
amazing moment, because not onlydoes it validate their truth,
your testimony of yourexperience with God validates
the truth of God that He isrisen. Wow, it needs a bigger
truth than that he is risen.
That's the truth. That's what'srevealed here, that he is risen.
(16:12):
And I want you to think aboutthat you are searching for a
relationship with God that hasgone ahead of you, that will
never leave you, but that hasgone ahead of you to prepare a
place for you. See, Jesus isahead of where you're going.
Jesus knows what you're going togo through. Knows that he's
going to walk this with you. Youhave the Holy Spirit with you
now, because you're going to aplace that has a promise with a
(16:35):
promise keeper, and that issomething hard for us to
experience, but we see it inthis text. We see it when Peter
looks into the temple and hesays that he is amazed. But
here's what this reveals thisscripture, this resurrection for
(16:57):
us today reveals one truth. Itreveals that the kingdom of God
is real. You don't have towonder anymore. We live in a
post resurrection reality. Weknow that the kingdom is real.
(17:23):
So here's my question for you,if we go to the tomb and we look
in and we walk away with wonder,and we know that the kingdom is
real, do you live your life inthat way. Do you live your life
thanking God for every singlemoment, knowing that the promise
(17:47):
of an eternity with your lovedones, with God, with the glory
of heaven, with the angelssinging in the holy choirs,
where every single day in heavenis Easter Sunday, where you come
wake up in the morning to apraise and a worship where
you're going. If I could havethis every day of my life where
people around you are whisperingprayers every single moment. Do
(18:09):
you live your life in this way?
Is every day that you wake up, aday that you thank God for the
resurrection. Because I trulybelieve, if we live in this
reality, then we're chastenJesus in an incredible way,
because we know the kingdom isreal. My hope is that we live
(18:32):
that way every single day. Andall God's people said, Amen, let
us pray heavenly and gracious,Father, we come before you today
knowing that your life with ushas been made new. It's been
made real, that the kingdom istrue, that we can no longer be
(18:53):
contained here on this earth,that you have made a promise to
us and that you keep yourpromises, your promises are
never broken. But Lord, I knowthat we still doubt. I know that
we still wonder both in aperplexed way and wonder in a in
an amazed way, but still wequestion, where are you at in
(19:13):
our life? And Lord, now we knowthat you have gone before us to
conquer sin, death and thedevil, to give us freedom, to
give us hope over the hurt, toshow us that darkness will not
overcome the light, to show usthat our faith is more than our
fear in this life.
Lord, you are with us in such away that we know and understand
(19:38):
what grace means. So my hope,Lord, is that we do not contain
this inside the church, that wedo not keep this as the kingdom
on earth, that we walk out ofthis church as a kingdom of
heaven, mindset, as the glory ofGod, mindset, and then we know
that we will not look for Jesus.
Where he was in our life, but weare looking for a resurrected
(20:02):
God, a resurrected Christ thatwalked among us, that prepares a
room for us, that promises thatthe Holy Spirit will remain
until he comes again. So Lord,my prayers remind us of that
today. Fill us with joy, fill uswith the heart of God and send
us to reveal our testimony tothose who share their
(20:26):
experiences with God with us, sothat we may not reveal our own
truth or our own will, but wemay reveal your truth about the
kingdom of heaven. And we praythese things in your holy and
precious name. And all God'speople said, Amen. You guys
enjoying our Easter Sunday. Sofar, you.
You guys can give it up for the TNC house.
(00:04):
Man One more time. Bring it someworship this morning, some
absolute worship. Um, you know,as as I was thinking about
Easter Sunday, we looked at theweather all week, and rain can't
stop you from coming to EasterSunday. Let's give it up for
making it to Easter Sunday.
There's a lot that goes on onEaster and so many hands are
involved, to come to a day whenwe find hope again, when we find
(00:30):
this peace that we're lookingfor, and this is a day where I
love to think about it in thisway, is that you can't go back
to what it was. There's no wayto go back to yesterday. You You
cannot go back to you have tounderstand that the resurrection
makes us new. We live in areality that is called a post
resurrection reality, whichmeans that we have new life. And
(00:52):
I love this moment at the tomb,because it's still not what we
expect. What we talked about inGood Friday is that those who we
would have expected to gather atthe Cross were not there. Those
who said they were loyal toJesus and would be with them
forever and would follow himwherever he goes, were not at
the cross. And yet we find itagain on the tomb three days
(01:12):
later, when Jesus rose from thedead, that those who we expected
to be there and who knew of thestory, didn't expect it would
happen. Still, there was stillthis. I have worship, and I
doubt I have faith, but I havequestions, and I just don't
think there were any different.
(01:33):
I think really, we come to thistext just like the disciples do
in the and the women who came tomeet Jesus at the tomb and
prepare his burial. I think wecome to Jesus in the same way on
Easter I really do. So I want tostart with the Scripture. I want
to start with the Scripture andread this story to you of when
Jesus rose from the dead andwhat happened at the tomb. And
so I want us to open up ourBibles. We love Bibles. In the
(01:55):
church. We have a mission herethat everyone would bring a
Bible to church. And so thatmeans a couple things. One, if
you got the good book, raise itup. We love Bibles. And there
they are. Wow, look at all thoseBibles out there today. I love
it. If you don't have a Bible,that's okay a couple things. One
is that we have Bible boxesaround the church, so you can
get up and grab we actually havekids Bibles in there now too.
And so you can grab a studyBible or kids Bible. If you
(02:16):
don't have one at home, you cankeep that Bible. And then also,
we're on the Bible app, so ifyou got a smartphone, raise that
up right. Raise that up. There'san app for the Bible. It's
really incredible. So if you'rescrolling on other apps and not
reading scripture, lots ofprayers, lots of prayers. So
because it exists and it'sthere, your choice, but you can
download that. We have a chairback card in front of you that
says the Bible app. You candownload that Bible app. We have
(02:38):
an event on there called theneighborhood church for Easter,
and you can follow on theScripture and the notes, and you
can save that so you can go backand do it, look in the past. And
if you're joining us on Facebookand YouTube, we love that. Thank
you for joining us online. Andthere's a link in the
description where you can alsoconnect with the Bible app also.
So we're going to be in Lukechapter 24 and remember, read
verses one through 12 today, onethrough 12. And here's the
(03:00):
interesting part about thestory. We are not going to get
to the part where they seeJesus, and I intentionally
stopped before that. We're goingto get to the part where they
discover the tomb is empty, butnot when they meet Jesus after
the resurrection. Because I feellike a lot of us get to that
point and then we wonder what'snext. We get to the point where,
(03:21):
like, hold on, where's Jesus inmy life? And we want the moment
where we see Jesus, and I wantto give us the moment where they
say, Hey, who are you lookingfor? Are you looking to for the
person that already told youwhat was going to happen?
Because that's happened, and Iwant you to hear that story
right now. So this is Lukechapter 24 and if you're this is
the first time opening the Biblefor you. Luke is in the New
Testament. It's one of the fourGospels. So there are four
(03:44):
gospels that tell the story ofJesus Christ from birth all the
way to resurrection andascension in some of the
Gospels. And they're basicallyfour different perspectives of
how to understand the story ofJesus from different viewpoints.
Some top talk about Jesus as,you know, the divine Son of God.
Some talk about Jesus as themiracle worker, right? And
they're all different people whowalked with Jesus, and as they
(04:06):
walked, understood differentperspectives of Jesus. And so
we're in the Gospel of Luke,Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So
if you're turning your Bible,and you find any of those, you
can get to Luke, chapter 24 andit's the last book, or last
chapter of the book, and Gospelof Luke. And here's what it
says. But on the first day ofthe week, at early dawn, they
(04:28):
came to the tomb. And when theysay they what they mean is that
there were some women that hadwalked with Jesus to the cross.
Had been with Jesus during kindof this moment where he was
taken to the crucifixion andeverything else. And they had
gone back home, and now theywere coming back to prepare
things, and as they were comingback to prepare things, they're
now gathered with him, and so isit again. They came to the tomb
taking spices that they hadprepared. They found the stone,
(04:52):
which is placed in front of thetomb, rolled away from the tomb,
but when they went in, they didnot find the. Body while they
were perplexed, which I love asa scripture words while they
were perplexed about this,suddenly, two men in dazzling
clothes stood beside them. Thewomen were terrified and bowed
(05:14):
their faces to the ground, butthe men said to them, Why do you
look for the living among thedead. He is not here, but has
risen. Remember how he told you,while he was still in Galilee
that the Son of Man must behanded over to sinners and be
crucified and on the third dayrise again. Then they remembered
(05:36):
his words, and returning fromthe tomb, they told all this to
the 11, the disciples and to allthe rest. Now it was Mary
Magdalene and Joanna and Mary,the mother of James and the
other women with them, who toldthis to the apostles. But these
words seem to them in idle tale,and they did not believe them,
(06:01):
but Peter, Peter got up and heran to the tomb, stooping and
looking in, he saw the linenclods by themselves, and then he
went home, amazed at what hadhappened here ends the Gospel
reading. So if I were to askyou, hearing someone and
(06:24):
followers of Jesus, the women inthe story, go to the tomb and
see that the tomb is empty, andhear from two men, angels in
dazzling white, saying, Why doyou look for the living among
the dead? He told you he isrisen. And they go back and they
say, Ah, he is risen. And thedisciples thought it was a, what
an idle tale. The whole ministryof Jesus, they hear, it's true,
(06:51):
and they say, What? It's an idletale. And yet, Peter, faithful,
Peter runs to the tomb and see,I love this, because I think
there's times when we questionJesus that we too, try to run to
God, right? There's times in ourlife when we don't have a path
and we don't know what's goingon. And so we take this moment
to run to God, and we wonder,Where is God in our life? And so
(07:14):
we start taking these stepstowards God, but that wonder
just increases and increases andincreases, saying, I wonder
where God is at in my life. Andthat actually happens twice in
this text. The first time is inverse four, when it says that
they were perplexed. Did youguys hear that? I love that word
in Scripture, because it doesn'tsound like it's coming from,
like, you know, around Jesus'stime, I'm perplexed. Like, it
(07:37):
doesn't sound like, that's whatthey would say. Oh, interesting.
You know, I guess what's goingon? No, what's happening is it's
a word that means to be withouta way or a path. They were lost.
They wondered where Jesus was atwhen they wondered. It means
that they were lost. And thesame thing happens to Peter,
(08:00):
that amazed word is also he wasfilled with wonder. But those
are two different types ofwonder, right? One is to be
lost, and a one is a wonder thatsays, I'm actually kind of
amazed at what's going on.
There's a wonder and awe aboutit. And so we have these two
different perspectives. But whatI love about Peter, when he
comes to the wonder is that heran to the tomb. And this is
(08:22):
where we get some of our firstlessons from the Scripture. And
I think there are three lessonsthat we need to hear from this
Easter scripture. But in orderto understand it, I want to take
you through an experience that Ihad that I think relates really
well to understanding what itmeans to run to the tomb at
expectation. So how many of youever participated in track when
(08:42):
you were in high school oranything other we have some
track people. How many of youever seen a track race? Right?
And okay, great. So we got a lotof people seen a track race, and
so the stands tend to get reallyexcited when there's a race
going on. In other gospels, itsaid that the two disciples
raced to the tomb to try tooutrun one another. And my
daughter is in track, and sheruns the 400 and the four by
(09:02):
four and the 200 and the four bytwo, and the 400 is a really
long race. It's a grueling race.
It's one lap around the track asfast as you can go, and it's
about the extent of what peoplecan do. And at the end of it,
you just kind of collapse on theground and thank God that you're
still alive. That's basicallythe end of the 400 everyone's
very faithful at the track meet,because they always thank God.
(09:23):
And so my daughter is runningthis, and I'm excited because
she runs the four by four. Now,the four by four is the last
event, the four by two is thefirst event. So we get to spend
five and a half hours at a trackmeet, which is super
so she runs the last event,which is a four by four. And I
want to take you through this,because as a dad, I get kind of
(09:44):
passionate. I get kind ofexcited and and I'm excited to
see where she's at. But everymeet this year she is she's the
anchor leg in the four by four,and every meet this year she has
gotten the baton where she isnot close enough to the person
in front of her, like 70 to 100Yards away from that person, and
the person behind her is too faraway, so she just runs a lap
(10:04):
around the track. And I'm like,I just wish she could race
someone. I wish she could feelthat like that racing of someone
to go to. So a couple meets ago,there was someone coming up
behind her, and I wanted tomotivate her, so she was coming
around the last lap in the 300and I looked I was like, Kaylee,
they're catching you. Run.
They're coming up behind you.
(10:24):
You're gonna get caught. Andshe's just gone, relax though,
don't exist. That's not how youlook. And so she ran, didn't let
the person catch her, and thenshe comes up. She's like, Dad,
those girls on my team told methat girl wasn't even close to
me. I was like, she wasn't evenclose to you. I was like, even
close to you. I was like, Ijust, I just wanted you to run
(10:45):
faster. I was like, what? Right?
Watch where I'm going with this.
Sometimes that's how we run fromour past. Okay, sometimes we
feel like our past is chasingus. But I'm going to make today
a new day. Sometimes you feellike something behind you is
(11:07):
catching you. Sometimes you feellike where you've come from is
maybe not good enough to be madenew today. And I want to start
that Jesus is doing somethingnew now I want to take you to
what happened last week. Whathappened last meeting is Kelly
got started, and the girl infront of was like 60 yards away
from her, which is a world ofdifference in the track meet.
She was already around the curveright. And Kaylee started
(11:27):
running. She's only got twomeets left. And I'd tell it
might not be the right language,but I'd tell Kaylee to go
hunting. And I was like, gohunting. Girl, go hunting. And
what that means is, go get hergo get her right. And so I was
like, Go get her right, andKaylee starts off, and she can
see her, and they're runningaround the track, and she gets
the back straight away, and allof a sudden she's catching up.
(11:49):
And I'm running down the stands,and I got my phone, and I'm
trying to get to her the 300 I'mrunning. I see her catch I'm
like, Oh my God, and she'scoming around the 300 right, and
she's getting around that curve,and this girl's slowing down,
and Kaylee's catching I'm like,Oh, it's a race. And I was, I
(12:09):
hear we and you could see thatpeople. I'm like, is that your
daughter? I'm like, That's mydaughter, right. There she go,
my Kaylee. Get her. Kaylee, gether. And she's running around
that 400 and she comes over andshe's running now, she hits the
last 100, right in front of thewhole stands, and, ah, she's
going great for him. Ah, shelooks like this. And she's
(12:30):
running. I can see her catchingher, and I can see her catch
her. I can see her getting closeand close and go. And she's
running all the way down. Andnow I'm all the way at the back
of the 100, and I'm justscreaming, get her. Kaylee, go
for it. Kaylee, she's in fourthplace right now, like, she's
trying to get third, like, it'snot even for the win. Like this
is, like, the first group'salready finished, second group's
already finished. Like, we'reout, right? So this is just,
(12:51):
like, a personal thing, and soshe's running for that 400 and
right before the end of the 400right? I think she can do it.
I'm we're all yelling, thisdancer cheering, right? And
she's right there, three yardsaway, three yards away, and she
bought. She finishes right shefinished. I'm just screaming. I
(13:11):
run under there says, like, bestrace of the year. This is
amazing. I can't believe it.
This is incredible. I was like,I love what's happened here. I
was like, this is where it's at.
And I realized that when she hadsomeone in front of her to look
at, she treated that race alittle bit different. See the
(13:32):
the first part that I see inthis text is Jesus is always on
the move. Jesus is not in thetomb. But sometimes we are
looking for Jesus where he wasin our life, not where he's
going. Sometimes we need to seeJesus in front of us, leading us
(13:56):
so that we are walking on thepath, not lost, but that we have
an anticipation that things aregoing to change, we have an
anticipation that our life won'tbe the same. We run to that tomb
to look in, not with unexpectednature, not with maybe this
didn't happen, but with that,what's going to happen next? If
this is true, what else doesthat mean? See, I think we
(14:20):
should stop looking for Jesuswhere he was at those times in
our life that you got throughand we felt God, but we don't
need to stay there. Today is anew day. Now we're looking for
Jesus where Jesus is going.
That's the promise that's beingrevealed here. And I love it,
because the women went first andthey came back to the apostles.
The people would walk with Jesuslike it's true. Everything's
(14:42):
true. The angels told us it wastrue. And what did the disciples
do? They say, No, no, it's anidle tale. I have to go see for
myself. See. And that's thesecond lesson that I take from.
The scripture. The second lessonthat I take from the Scripture
(15:03):
is that people are going toshare their experience of God
with you and the disciples.
Response could have been he saidthis to us. Peter could have
said three times he told methis, and I told him it wasn't
true, and you're telling me it'strue, like that's my experience
of God too, that God's there forme, that that Jesus said He
(15:25):
would rise from the dead. Thatcould have been Peter's
response, but it said he said, Idon't believe you. Let me go see
for myself. See what I believeis when people share their
experience of God with you, yourtestimony validates their truth.
And if you don't share aboutyour experience, of God, how are
they going to know that it'strue too? That conversation
(15:48):
between the disciples and thewomen could have been this
amazing moment, because not onlydoes it validate their truth,
your testimony of yourexperience with God validates
the truth of God that He isrisen. Wow, it needs a bigger
truth than that he is risen.
That's the truth. That's what'srevealed here, that he is risen.
(16:12):
And I want you to think aboutthat you are searching for a
relationship with God that hasgone ahead of you, that will
never leave you, but that hasgone ahead of you to prepare a
place for you. See, Jesus isahead of where you're going.
Jesus knows what you're going togo through. Knows that he's
going to walk this with you. Youhave the Holy Spirit with you
now, because you're going to aplace that has a promise with a
(16:35):
promise keeper, and that issomething hard for us to
experience, but we see it inthis text. We see it when Peter
looks into the temple and hesays that he is amazed. But
here's what this reveals thisscripture, this resurrection for
(16:57):
us today reveals one truth. Itreveals that the kingdom of God
is real. You don't have towonder anymore. We live in a
post resurrection reality. Weknow that the kingdom is real.
(17:23):
So here's my question for you,if we go to the tomb and we look
in and we walk away with wonder,and we know that the kingdom is
real, do you live your life inthat way. Do you live your life
thanking God for every singlemoment, knowing that the promise
(17:47):
of an eternity with your lovedones, with God, with the glory
of heaven, with the angelssinging in the holy choirs,
where every single day in heavenis Easter Sunday, where you come
wake up in the morning to apraise and a worship where
you're going. If I could havethis every day of my life where
people around you are whisperingprayers every single moment. Do
(18:09):
you live your life in this way?
Is every day that you wake up, aday that you thank God for the
resurrection. Because I trulybelieve, if we live in this
reality, then we're chastenJesus in an incredible way,
because we know the kingdom isreal. My hope is that we live
(18:32):
that way every single day. Andall God's people said, Amen, let
us pray heavenly and gracious,Father, we come before you today
knowing that your life with ushas been made new. It's been
made real, that the kingdom istrue, that we can no longer be
(18:53):
contained here on this earth,that you have made a promise to
us and that you keep yourpromises, your promises are
never broken. But Lord, I knowthat we still doubt. I know that
we still wonder both in aperplexed way and wonder in a in
an amazed way, but still wequestion, where are you at in
(19:13):
our life? And Lord, now we knowthat you have gone before us to
conquer sin, death and thedevil, to give us freedom, to
give us hope over the hurt, toshow us that darkness will not
overcome the light, to show usthat our faith is more than our
fear in this life.
Lord, you are with us in such away that we know and understand
(19:38):
what grace means. So my hope,Lord, is that we do not contain
this inside the church, that wedo not keep this as the kingdom
on earth, that we walk out ofthis church as a kingdom of
heaven, mindset, as the glory ofGod, mindset, and then we know
that we will not look for Jesus.
Where he was in our life, but weare looking for a resurrected
(20:02):
God, a resurrected Christ thatwalked among us, that prepares a
room for us, that promises thatthe Holy Spirit will remain
until he comes again. So Lord,my prayers remind us of that
today. Fill us with joy, fill uswith the heart of God and send
us to reveal our testimony tothose who share their
(20:26):
experiences with God with us, sothat we may not reveal our own
truth or our own will, but wemay reveal your truth about the
kingdom of heaven. And we praythese things in your holy and
precious name. And all God'speople said, Amen. You guys
enjoying our Easter Sunday. Sofar, you.
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