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EASTER SERMON

April 5. 2026

  1. INVOCATION
  1. PRAYER…
  1. “CHRIST IS RISEN…HE IS RISEN INDEED…ALLELULIA!”
  1. ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS I REMEMBER AS A CHILD GOING TO EASTER WORSHIP ARE THOSE WORDS!
  1. “CHRIST IS RISEN…HE IS RISEN INDEED…ALLELUIA!”
  1. THIS COULD…NO SHOULD BE THE SHORTEST SERMON OF THE YEAR!
  1. WHY?? BECAUSE THOSE WORDS SUMMARIZED THE WHOLE MEANING NOT JUST OF EASTER SUNDAY…BUT ENCAPSULATES THE WHOLE MEANING OF WHY CHRIST CAME INTO THE WORLD!
  1. “CHRIST IS RISEN…HE IS RISEN INDEED…ALLELUIA”…BUT WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT…THESE WERE NOT THE WORDS SHARED/SPOKEN WITH EACH OTHER ON THIS FIRST EASTER
  1. REMEMBER…WHEN THE WOMEN HAD RETURNED FROM THEIR MIND-BLOWING EXPERIENCE AT THE EMPTY TOMB…WE ARE TOLD THAT THE WOMEN CAME BACK AND PRONOUNCED TO THE DISIPLES WHO WERE HIDING BEHIND LOCKED DOORS OUT OF FEAR FOR THEIR OWN LIVES…WHAT DID THEY SAY?
  1. “HE IS RISEN!”
  1. HOWEVER…INSTEAD OF BEING GREETED WITH “HE IS RISEN, INDEED”…
  1. INSTEAD OF SHOUTS OF PRAISE AND ALLELUIA’S…THE RESPONSE OF THE DISCIPLES IS UNNERVING…WE ARE TOLD THAT THE DISCIPLES CONSIDER WHAT THE WOMEN SHARE WITH THEM TO BE AN “IDLE TALE!”
  1. THE ACTUAL “GREEK” WORD DOESN’T MEAN JUST “IDLE TALE” IT REALLY MEANS “GARBAGE OR WASTE”
  1. JUST THINK ABOUT IT…ALL THESE DISCIPLES…MINUS JUDAS…WHO HAD FOLLOWED JESUS FOR THREE YEARS…WHO HAD WITNESSED HIS MIRACLES AND LISTENED TO HIS PARABLES IN WHICH HE OVER AND OVER INVITED “ALL…EVERYONE TO BE PART OF HIS FATHER’S KINGDOM”…
  1. THESE ARE THE SAME DISCIPLES THAT NOW HAVE CHURCHES NAMED AFTER THEM…LIKE ST. JOHN’S…ST. PAUL’S…ST. MATTHEW’S…”
  1. THESE ARE THE ONES UPON FIRST HEARING THE NEWS OF HE RESURRECTION OF JESUS…LOOK AROUND AT EACH OTHER…LOOK AT THE WOMEN…SHAKE THEIR HEAD AND COLLECTIVELY SAY….WHAT???
  1. “THIS IS A LOAD OF GARBAGE!”……O M G!!
  1. BUT ARE WE ANY DIFFERENT TODAY…ON APRIL 5TH…2026…I’VE CELEBRATED EASTER NOW FOR 75 YEARS…AND I HAVE SHOUTED “CHRIST IS RISEN…HE IS RISEN, INDEED…ALLELUIA!”
  1. BUT DOES THE EMPTY TOMB REALLY MEAN ANYTHING TO US TODAY??
  1. YOU SEE THE EMPTY TOMB IS NOTHING LESS THAN “AMAZING…ASTONISHING…BEWILDERING…AND REALITY-CHANGING!”
  1. THE EMPTY TOMB INVITES US TO TRUST WHAT WE CANNOT SEE
  1. THE EMPTY TOMB CHALLENGES US TO LIVE FULLY EVEN WHEN LIFE IS NOT FULLY IN OUR CONTROL
  1. THE EMPTY TOMB DARES US TO TRUST THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD HAS COME NEAR IN AND THROUGH THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS
  1. THE EMPTY TOMB AND THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS IS AN INVITATED TO NEW LIFE AND TO LIVE IN A BRAND NEW REALITY
  1. THIS EASTER MORNING…YOU MAY BE LIVING BEHIND A LOCK DOOR WITH YOUR FEARS…ANXITIES…SORROW…DEPRESSION…BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS…BEHIND THE SINS THAT YOU DON’T EVEN WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOURSELF
  1. BUT FINALLY…PETER HEARD THAT SIMPLE SENTENCE…THE SENTENCE THAT WOULD CHANGE EVENTUALLY THE LIVES AND FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES
  1. PETER HEARD THEM SAY, “HE IS RISEN!”
  1. AND THEN “PETER GOT UP AND RAN TO THE TOMB”
  1. NOW…WHO KNOWS IF PETER THOUGHT THE WORDS OF THE WOMENWERE “GARBAGE” OR NOT
  1. WE DON’T KNOW IF HE WENT TO THE TOMB OUT OF FAITHFULNESS OIR TO PROVE THE WOMEN WERE WRONG
  1. ALL WE KNOW IS THAT IN RSPONSE TO THE MERE “POSSIBILITY” OF THE RESURRECTION OF HIS FRIEND…THE MESSIAH THAT HE HAD PROCLAIMED TO JESUS SHORTLY BEFORE
  1. PETER RAN…HE DIDN’T WALK…HE RAN
  1. PERHAPS YOU ARE BURDENED WITH YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW…
  2. MAYBE YOU CAN’T FIND ANY HOPE IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW
  1. PERHAPS YOU ARE STRUGGLING IN YOUR FAITH…MAYBE YOUR UNCERTAIN ABOUT GOD
  1. PERHAPS YOU ARE DEALING WITH A HEALTH ISSUE…RELATIONSHIP ISSUE
  1. MAYBE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE TREADING WATER IN YOUR LIFE
  1. WHEN PETER FINALLY RAN TO THE TOMB AND HE PEERED INTO THE EMPTY TOMB
  1. HE SAW NOTHING LESS THAN THE PLACE WHERE GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM COLLIDED WITH AND CONQUERED OUR BROKEN AND DESPERATE WORLD.
  1. WHEN PETER STARED INTO THAT EMPTY TOMB…HE SAW NOTHING LESS THAN THE PALCE WHERE GOD’S WILL FOR LIFE DEFEATED THE “DEVIL…THE WORLD AND OUR SINFUL LIFE!”
  1. WHEN PETER PEERED INTO THAT EMPTY TOMB…HE SAY NOTHING LESS THAN THE PLACE WHERE THE “LOVE…THE GRACE…THE COMPASSION” OF JESUS CAN OR WILL NEVER BE CONTAINED BEHIND ANY STONE
  1. SO JUST LIKE PETER…LET US FAITHFULLY…IF NOT EVEN FEARFULLY…LET US RUN TO THE RESURRECTION AND THE EMPTY TOMB…ONCE AGAIN THIS EASTER MONRING AND EVERY DAYT
  1. FOR AS WE DO SO…I BELIEVE WE WILL GROW BOLD ENOUGH TO PROCLAIM THE RISKIEST AND YET MOST POWERFUL WORDS WE WILL EVER SAY…
  1. “CHRIST IS RISEN…HE IS RISEN INDEED…ALLELUIA!
  1. “STONE WITH CROSS ON IT!”…TAKE IT HOME…BLACK STONES THROUGHOUT LENT TO REMIND US THAT WE ARE SINNERS…BUT THROUGH THE EMPTY CROSS..AND THE EMPTY TOMB…WE ARE “FORGIVEN SINNERS!” BECAUSE “CHRIST IS RISEN…HE IS RISEN INDEED…ALLELUIA!”

(ABLE STAND AND SING, #____________________________________”