I have a word for you this morning, it's "Rise". I believe that it will speak to your heart and encourage you if you will just allow it to come in and let God touch you. Today we're going to look not only on the Easter story but many scriptures throughout the New Testament.
Matthew 28:1-6 says, "After the sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdelene and the other Mary came to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, his clothing as white as snow, and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay".
Father, we thank you this morning that you are alive and well. Let your word have its way inside of us. Lord, Although we know the message of the resurrection very well, we thank you that it is life and strength and encouragement to everyone here. Lord, may we decrease and may you increase, in the name of Jesus, amen.
In Florida, an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews, and observances of their Holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists have no such recognized days. So the case was brought before the judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case dismissed". The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling, "Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? Christians have Christmas and Easter; the Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays". The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant". The Judge said, "Psalms 14:1 states, the fool says in his heart there is no God". "Thus it is the opinion of the court, since the calendar clearly states that April 1st is April Fools day, that he is a fool; Therefore, he has his day. Court is adjourned".
All of us know why we're here today. We're here because Christ rose, the Savior of the world who died for everyone of us. For some Christians, today is a formal day. They've come to church because it's the right thing to do at this time of year. For those of us who are here this morning, this is a personal day. There's a lot of things that we could be doing but we've cleared our schedule for one major reason, because Christ gave his all for us. Our Savior is alive and because he lives, we live. Jesus overcame sin and death, and he overcame the grave. He rose to live and he rose to win. This is what happens to each one when they give their life to Christ and when we are forgiven of our sins. We rise to live and we rise to win.
Colossians 2:13 says, "When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ". He forgave us all our sins. How many are thankful that you're forgiven? That everything you've ever done is under the blood of Jesus Christ. What a wonderful testimony.
Ephesians 2:1 says, "And you, he made alive, when you were dead in trespasses and sin". When we were at our worst, he came and he raised us up. Each life that Jesus saves is a miracle and a testimony. Everyone who has given their life to the Lord has a story of where they were and what God has done in their life. Last week we heard 2 great testimonies of how God set people free. God took them through many things but the truth is, everyone of us can go back to what God has set us free from. This week you know what you struggled with but how many are thankful that Christ, your Savior, walks with you and lives with you and is only as far as the mention of his name?
The other week I was reading through some stories that I love. The great privilege of pastoring a church is that I get to hear the testimonies of so many people as thay come to the Lord. We get to work with people as they struggle and work out their salvation, as God sets them free. Churches are filled with people like you and me, that God has changed and set free. Some of our missionaries sent some stories. One sent a story from the Middle East, in North Africa. It says, "Last Sunday a woman visited our church and after the service she shared her testimony. One night in a dream, Jesus appeared to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke to her. When she woke, she immediately gave her life to Christ. She felt her burdens lifted and knew that He had washed away her sins. Even as she shared her story, she trembled at the awesomeness of his power. Her story was thrilling but I was even more amazed when I discovered that she had never met another Christian until she came to the service that day. Yet she had been a believer for 3 years. How many are thankful for our Jesus?
In India, there's a story of a lady named, Priah, and she was married for more than 30 years and had 2 sons. One son died before his first birthday. Priah was blamed for his death because she had let the evil eye see the child's beauty. When her 2nd son died at age 17 in a scooter accident, she was blamed for that misfortune as well. Then 5 years ago, Priah's husband died of complications from diabetes. Priah's culture blamed a husband's death on his wife. So people believed that Priah was paying for the sins of her past lives. When I met Priah, she was at a bus stop begging for her daily food. No one wanted to have anything to do with her because of her bad Karma. She was an outcast, but because of our ministry to widows, Priah has hope. She and other women like her now have a place to come and learn about the love of the Savior.
I want to share one more with you. A missionary in Russia said, "I was finishing my meal in the cafeteria when Sasha, a vivacious energetic student approached me and held out her arm. "Would you like to hear what happened here? she asked, pointing to a long white scar. She went on to tell me a tragic story of drug abuse and addiction, of a broken marriage and hopelessness. Her narrative included only despair and desperation until she gave her life to Jesus. At that point her story turned into one of incredible peace and gladness. No longer sleeping on the streets forgetting the loss of her family, she now stands along side her husband as they pastor a newly planted church. Her intellect is fully restored. Her life's focus has shifted from attempting to fill her own emptiness to showing others the path to fulfillment. The scar on her arm is a reminder of God's faithfulness and mercy.
How many are thankful for the life that Jesus changes? Everyone of us has a story. Around the world we are seeing people's lives changed. That's what the ressurrection is all about. It is not a formal observance of an event that took place 2000 years ago, It is a living reality of the lives that Jesus changes everyday.
Each life that Jesus saves is a miracle. There are people all over who rose up from death unto life and Christ touches each one personally. When Christ died on the cross, his death immediately brought life. Christ's death did not spark more death but it produced life into those who were already gone.
In Matthew it says, "Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth quaked and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the graves. After his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many". That's a good story right there. Even Hollywood can't make that one up.
I believe God's word for us today is "Rise up and live". Carmen wrote a song awhile back, "Let the church rise and move the gates of hell". God's word this Easter for everyone in this room is "Rise up and live". If the life you have in Christ has begun to grow dull and dim then it's time to rise up. Remember all that Jesus did for you. Let it stir your heart and touch you to the core of who you are. God called you to live. Whatever you're going through, if Christ has set you free you are free indeed and he wants you to live the abundant life that he has for you.
When Jesus passed, the Bible says that the world turned dark and the earth began to shake. The truth is that life changing experience happens to each one that gives their life to the Lord. It is life changing just like that day was life changing for the world. Today I want us to look at a couple of things that I believe happen when we rise up. The first thing I want you to notice is when Jesus rose from the dead, he quit hanging aound the graveyard. He wasn't there anymore and quit hanging around dead people and dead places. When we give our life to Jesus, so must we. Luke chapter 2 says this, "But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb and they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened as they were greatly perplexed about this that behold two men stood by them in shining garments. Then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee". There is a reason why the living feel uncomfortable around death, because they don't want to be around it. They don't want to be dead. I remember one time some one looked at me and said, "Pastor, I wish I was dead right now". I want to tell you that Jesus came to give you life and he loves you so much that he gave his everything.
There's a reason that the living feel uncomfortable around death. There's a reason why the Christian feels uncomfortable around sin and compromise with sinful people. Why do you look around and see dead people all the time? That's what Jesus said, "I see people who are dead in their trespasses and sin". I want to ask you what you see this morning when you see this world? What do you see when you go to the grocery store? What do you see when you are with your colleagues at work? Do you see people that Jesus came to bring life to? When Jesus came to life he saw people who were mourning and discouraged and began to appear to them immediately, to let them know that even in the midst of death there is hope and joy. He immediately began to reveal himself to the disciples and then on the road to Emmaus. He began to speak with some of them who were discouraged and all of a sudden their depression turned to life. When Jesus left them, they realized who had been with them. It tells us in Luke 24, "They said to one another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures to us?" Jesus' passion sent him to the cross and when others had lost their passion he came to stir it up again. You can't be around the Lord and not feel something burn within you again. Maybe you've lost your heart for Jesus but this morning Jesus says, "Rise up, I'm alive and I'm yours". He wants to give you some good heartburn today. It's time for the church's heart to burn within them with the same passion that sent Jesus to the cross so we would have that same passion and love for Him and the world.
Passion week ended with a passionate rising from the dead, as Christ in triumph came out to save every single one of us. Many here today are waiting for eternity, for our lives to get better but I want you to understand that eternity begins the moment you give your life to the Lord. Jesus wants to raise us up new; physically, spiritually and emotionally. Why wait when you can begin to live today?
The story of Lazarus is one of the most powerful in all the word of God. Jesus knew that he was going to rise from the dead but he just couldn't wait. He had to do something spectacular before he rose up. He wanted to show his power to the world and to let us know that people could rise even now. In John 11:24, 25, it says, Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day". But Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me though he may die, he shall live. Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" Let me ask you, Christian, do you believe this word, that you can live again and live with Christ today? You see, eternity starts now.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has set eternity in the heart of man". If we are never going to die then we can just get on with living. I believe it's time that we begin to have eternity in our heart and in our mind. When we give our life to Jesus, that means that eternity starts then. Those who have known Christ aren't worried about dying because they understand that when they're physically gone that's just the beginning. Stop worrying about all the physical things and concentrate on the eternal things. Our body may die but we're going to get one back. I want to ask you, what are you waiting for? When God heals he doesn't just let you stay where you are, he tells you to rise up and get moving. All of these stories and testimonies that we hear of people who have been changed were once living dead but then God rose them up to live right then. One of the great things about these testimonies are how people began to live even after all the horrible things that had gone on in their life.
Jesus tells the story about a man that he healed that was laying by the pool of Bethesda. He couldn't get himself into the pool when the waters were being stirred. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been in that condition a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" Every one of these people who gave their testimonies wanted to be made well again. That lady in India was tired of being blamed for the death of everyone. It wasn't her fault but she was beginning to believe what everyone said. God raised her up. That girl from Russia with all those track marks on her arms and the scars that were left behind thought she'd never be able to really live again and everyone around her thought she'd be dead in just a matter of months. People came and said to her, "Do you want to be made well?"
You may be going through the hardest thing ever in your life but the question Jesus wants to know, "Do you want to be made well?" The sick man answered, "Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up but when I am coming, another steps down before me". Jesus said, "Rise, take up your bed and walk". It tells us that he did; he got up to live from that moment on. I want you to notice something here, Jesus healed him but that man took up his own bed and he walked. Jesus said, "You've been down for a long time and you've had a lot of excuses about why you've been down but I'm going to do a miracle for you. After I've done the miracle I want you to get up and begin to live. That means you can't lay by this pool and have all your excuses and your pity party anymore. Now I'm going to make you well and you need to rise up and walk". And he did. Jesus said, "I'll do the miracle, you do the living". Some people today want you to give them bread and chew it for them too. But God has a word for you, "You live".
You may be here this resurrection Sunday and you need a miracle from God. God will do the miracle. He already went to the cross, he already rose from the dead and he promised he'd forgive you for your sins and heal you of your mental condition, your physical condition and your spiritual condition but now you've got to get up and live in the healing and in the miracle. If you will do it then you will have that abundant life God promised in His word. Your miracle will be a high point in life but there is much more here than just the miracle. God will touch you if you'll let him but once he does, get up and live. Don't let people hold your past against you and don't you hold your past against yourself. Don't let your sins be the determining factor of what you were, be what you're going to be. You've been set free so begin to live.
Church, God also has a word for us, we need to rise up. When Jesus calls people out of death, we are most times called to loose them and let them go. When Jesus called Lazarus to come forth, he rose again. "When he had said these things, he called out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth". And he who died came out bound hand and foot with gravecloths and his face was wrapped with a cloth and Jesus said to them, "Loose him and let him go". Those who have been risen from the dead have graveclothes on and they need help getting free. When Jesus rose from the dead he took his own graveclothes off. But those who are dead are there because they didn't know how to get the graveclothes off in the first place. Jesus gave his disciples a great illustration: he does the raising and we are to do the freeing. You can't live if you are still bound up, you'll suffocate and get trapped and fall down. This Easter I believe the word that God has for everyone of us is that he is reminding us that he has done the miracle of raising people from the dead and he has called his church to do the practical work. We are to help set people free. We don't need to look at them when thy come out of the grave and say, "Hey, you've got some graveclothes on". When Lazarus came out of the grave he already knew he was still bound up just a little bit. He knew there were still things he needed help with. Sometimes I think we have too many Captain Obvious' in the church. He didn't need someone to say, "Hey Lazarus, it's nice to see that you're alive but you're still kind of bound up". Too many times we look at this Easter thing and we see people come to Christ and they rise to life but there's still a work that's going on inside of them. God can deliver them and set them free but God tells the church to rise up and help them take off some of the graveclothes. You've got to help them unwrap and unwind and learn everything that God has got for them. God is saying to the church this Easter, "Rise up".
Even when Lazarus rose up he still might of smelled a little like death but it was just the cloth. He just had to get rid of it so he wouldn't smell like it anymore. Jesus said to help him get it off, help him to unwrap, just help him to begin to live again.
Once we see Jesus do the work of bringing life, we will want to start doing the very same thing. Boldness will hit us and we will begin to speak to others to rise up. I believe resurrection power needs to grip the church one more time. How many are thankful you've been set free from sin? But the truth is, sometimes we're so happy we're set free we forget about everybody else. Something happens when you understand resurrection power. Peter and John couldn't just help themselves anymore. They saw Jesus lifting people up and wanted to be a part of the process. In Acts 3:6 it says this, Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I don't have but what I have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk". I don't have a whole lot of stuff but what I've got I'm going to give you. In the name of Jesus, rise up". How many know that those who have been gripped by the passion of Christ begin to want to speak that risen power into other people's lives.
We may not have much of the world's riches but what we do have is powerful. It's about life and healing. You may say, "I'm not the wealthiest person in the world" but it doesn't matter. "I don't have what everybody else has", it doesn't matter. We live in Palm Beach County and we say that we don't have everything that all the rich folk have but you have more than the rich folk have. We are the blessed of the Lord. We've got the power of the risen Savior inside of us. The dead are always trying to take people with them. They always want people to be dead right along with them. Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead but you go and preach the kingdom of God". You preach, "Silver and gold have I none but what I've got I'm going to give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk". I wonder what would happen if the multitude of church folk who come out of church today and wind up going to Denny's, the Olive Garden or Red Lobster, if we would go out and minister that life to just one person there? Lives would be changed and people would be touched. Some of you this morning might walk out to go to lunch and you're going to run into a waittress or someone on the road who is hurting. I pray that your eyes will be open to see what Jesus sees. Reach out and help people arise and live in the wholeness and fulness of God.
I want to remind all of us who are believers, are going to rise in the greatest display that the world has ever seen. One day Jesus is coming back and he's going to take his church with him. I hope he comes on Easter Sunday. How cool would it be if God decides to empty out every church? If the rapture would take place this morning we couldn't even finish communion and all of a sudden the people on their way to the second service get raptured out of their vehicle. They were on their way to church but now they're on their way to the marriage supper of the lamb. That would be a marvelous thing on Easter Sunday. One day He is coming back and He's coming soon. 1st Thessalonians 4:16 says, "He the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord". It says in 1st Corinthians, "So when this corruption has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory". Jesus is coming back and we will rise with him.
Are you ready? Are you ready to rise and live today in all that God has given you? Maybe you don't know Christ as your Savior. I want to tell you that He did everything on that cross for you. He went to Calvary and he gave his life so that we could be forgiven and have right relationship with the Father. Then he went into the grave after he died and 3 days later he rose from the dead. He conquered sin and death that you might have life. Today I invite you to make Him your Lord and Savior. Church, I challenge you, when you leave this building today, to let the passion of the Lord stir in your heart again that we will rise up as the church and help others to live this wonderful life that God has for them.
