Easter

The tomb is empty, but our hope and joy overflow because Jesus is alive! What seemed lost is now full of life, victory, and new beginnings.

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, and thank you for listening to this message from Shepherd's Gate Church, located in Kelby Township, Michigan. To learn more about Shepherd's Gate and to access more content, visit EpcateChurch.org.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Happy Easter! It is good to see all of you this morning on Resurrection Sunday as we celebrate the greatest day in all of human history, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen? And so if this is your first time here, we're just so glad that you've joined us this Easter. If there's anything that we can do, please let us know. We do really hope you can stick around afterwards. We have coffee and some special Easter refreshments as well as the incredible photo booth so you can get a picture with your family. And honestly, on behalf of our church and all of those that have been part of this service, this is really uh what we would like to say is that we don't want anything from you. We simply want Jesus for you. And we know the impact that he has had on our lives, the way he's changed and transformed our lives, and we want that same transformation for you today. So once again, thank you for joining us, and all of you that are joining us online as well. And what's also so interesting about Easter and Holy Week, because as a church, we've been kind of celebrating this all week long, starting last Sunday with Palm Sunday. And as a church, we actually gather even on Thursday night and we remember Jesus with the disciples in the upper room. But for most people, it comes down to kind of two days and two things. And it's really Good Friday and Easter, where we talk about death and we talk about the resurrection. There's a lot of focus on Jesus on the cross, and of course, there's a lot of focus on Jesus coming out of the tomb. And in those moments, so often it forces us to kind of actually think about our own lives. And maybe you're here today and you've gone to Easter services your entire life, and you're probably wondering how many more Easter services you have left. Or maybe you're here today, and I know we have some kids with us. Kids, where are you at? You can go ahead and wave at me. You have a ton of Easters left ahead of you unless Jesus comes back. But we're so glad that you're with us as well, and you can be part of the service and answering some of the questions that I'm about to ask with the congregation. And so I want to start by asking this as we're reflecting on our old on our own lives, are there any places on your bucket list that you want to visit? Like you want to go and be an eyewitness, you want to be there in person to experience it for yourself before you die. Yes? Or you're like, I'm perfectly fine, Michigan's great, Metro Detroit's my jam. I really don't see a need to look outside of that. Go ahead and turn to the person next to you and tell them whatever your bucket list place is. Go ahead and do that right now. Wow, some of you have more than one place, apparently. Kids, I'm gonna guess. Kids, is it Disney World? Is that where you want to go? If your parents haven't like you you just want to go to the beach? Beach is way cheaper than Disney World, I hear. But can you help me this morning? There's some places I want to look at and see if you recognize any of these places as we go around the world. Does anybody know what this place is? Oh, the tie- and where is it located? And so if people go to India, what's the first thing that you say? Did you go and visit? And this thing is considered one of the great wonders of the world. But did you know that this is actually a memorial? And it's a memorial to Mr. Mahal. He actually built this for his wife, Mrs. Mahal, after she passed away. And she passed away, ready for this? After she birthed their 14th child. So when you have 14 children, I believe you deserve something this grandiose. I mean, how about this? Anybody been to this place? We got some French people in here, some Paris-loving people. This is the Arge de Triomphe in Paris, and what uh is so amazing is I had the opportunity to go here, and I was mesmerized at how the cars are able to go around in a circle, and they never ever crash into each other. And you come back to Metro Detroit, where every single day people in our community can't get through a simple roundabout without getting in an accident. But did you know that this is actually a memorial? It started with Napoleon and all of the conquest and the wars that he won, specifically World War I as well, because this is what they consider their tomb of the unknown soldier. How about this one? This one might be a little more sobering. Some of you are, I can hear you're getting it. This is World War II, this is Oshua, it's a concentration camp during the Second World War. And I had a friend who actually had the opportunity to visit this place last summer, and he literally called me after he went there. And I want you to know this. He's a really good friend of mine, but he does not believe in Jesus. He's not sure what he believes. He goes in between being an atheist and agnostic, and he's on the phone on his bus ride back to his hotel, and he's like, Tim, I just had this crazy religious experience. And I'm like, How do you have a religious experience if you don't believe in anything? He goes, I don't know, but being there and hearing the story that over one million people lost their lives in such a horrible way had an impact on his mind and his emotions. How about this one? Anyone ever have the opportunity to visit this one? Now I want you to know that I have a sister who moved to Hawaii, and so I had no choice. I had to go and visit her in Hawaii, okay? Uh so I've been to Hawaii several times. I've been to this memorial which sits atop uh the USS Arizona, and I'm amazed at how serious they take this memorial. They do not let you speak. You are not allowed to talk when you get off the boat and you were on that memorial, is how serious our military takes what happened on that day. How about this one? Oh, I had the opportunity to visit this one because I was at a conference in Oklahoma. And so this was one of the most tragic things that took place in our country. And it really, I was still in high school when this happened, and I remember the weight of this, of how could anybody just take innocent lives? And I think the part that really shattered our hearts was the fact that so many kids were involved in this tragedy. Well, let me give you one more. I bet you some of you have actually been to this one. How many of you have been to New York City? You've been to this memorial? And you know that this video doesn't do it justice because when you're there and you look down at these waterfalls, how far down into the earth that they go. And all of us, most of us in this room, live through that experience and what that meant for us as a nation, and even now, all of the things that we continue to deal with. And I know for you, you're probably thinking of other places that you've been to or maybe you want to visit. And again, it's so interesting with people and in our human nature of this desire to want to go and to be at these physical locations to experience these things for ourselves and hopefully to remember and hopefully that history wouldn't actually repeat itself. Well, today, as we go into the gospels, and if you're new to church or new to the Bible, the New Testament starts off with four different gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And so for this Easter, we're actually going to look at Luke's account. And Luke actually wasn't one of Jesus' 12 original disciples. He came afterwards, but he had uh contact with the disciples. And so we find out that he's a doctor, but in this case, when he's writing Luke, he's actually writing as like an investigative reporter. And so he's going around and he's talking to Mary, the mother of Jesus, he's talking to the other women, he's talking to the disciples, and he's gathering all this information and being inspired by the Holy Spirit, he's the one that gives us his Easter account in his gospel, which we call Luke. And so this is his account, chapter 4, verse 21, where he says, On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb. And the people he's talking about are the women. The women went to the tomb and they take spices they had prepared. Now they're doing this because this was part of their custom. When someone passed away, it wasn't just having the funeral service, it wasn't just placing them in the tomb, that they would have ongoing things that they would do to honor those that they loved, to honor those that had passed away. And I think of the lengths that we go through even in our lives, when someone that we hold dear, and some of you in here, you've lost someone, maybe it was this year, maybe it was last year, maybe it's been several years, and you still carry the weight of that. And you remember how much time and energy you put into honoring your loved one. Isn't it interesting that we get dressed up and we buy flowers and we have services, and even when we get to the point of putting them in their resting place, the amount of intentionality that goes into that. And so it's no different for these women. They're doing what was customary for them to do because they love Jesus and they wanted to honor Jesus. And so they get to the tomb and they find that the stone is rolled away, which is a problem. Like this isn't how it's supposed to be, and so what's the natural human reaction? You're gonna go in, you're gonna investigate, you're gonna find out what's happening, and when they go in, there's no body in there. And so you can imagine in this moment, they're kind of wondering what's happening, and their minds probably coming up with all different types of scenarios. In fact, the scriptures tell us that as they're trying to figure this out, that there's two men that stood before them in dazzling apparel. Other gospel writers tell us that these are actually angels. These are actually messengers sent by God. And when they see these angels, because they're not in the form of normal humans, there's something different about them. Of course, they're frightened and they bow down because they're not even sure what is happening to them in this moment. And these guys actually speak up and talk to the women. They say, Why do you seek the living among the dead? Which is really interesting that they start by asking the women a question, and then they go on to say, and this is Luke's Easter message for us, he is not here, he has risen. And can you imagine them hearing these words come out of these supernatural beings and processing this moment and the magnitude of this moment that they find themselves in? Well, here's what I would submit to you today, and the basis of my Easter message this year is that Christianity actually begins where every other monument on the planet ends. There is something unique, there is something special about the resurrection of Jesus. We're gonna get into that more in a moment. But let's go back to what the angels continue to say to the women. They say, Remember how Jesus told you? Remember the last three years of his life as he went town to town, village by village, you were with him, you shared meals with them, you watched him perform miracles, and he repeated himself. He told you that certain things were going to happen, and they were going to happen in a certain timeline. And this is what's so interesting about the word remember. It's a very important word in Scripture, as they now are helping them fully understand the magnitude of this moment. The answer to their question is actually not found in the location of the tomb. The answer to the question that the angels asked the women is found in the words that Jesus has spoken. And for us, we believe that God's word is what has the power to change and transform our lives. That's why we believe so strongly in the Bible, because it's living and it's active, and it is what is the catalyst to change and to challenge and to bring you to faith. And so they tell them this. Remember when he told you that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men? That first it's gonna be his own people, the Jewish religious leaders that refuse to believe that he was the Messiah. And when they get done dragging him all over Jerusalem, eventually they're gonna convince the Roman government to actually put him on a cross and crucify him because they weren't allowed to crucify Jesus. They had to convince the Romans to do it and convince the Romans that Jesus was a nuisance and causing an issue and even challenging Caesar himself. And so he's gonna be handed into sinful men's uh grass, he's gonna be crucified, but don't forget the final part of the equation, don't forget the final part of the teaching. On the third day, he will rise again. And so, as the women are receiving this, they're hearing it from the angels. How do you think they responded? How would you have responded in that moment? As you're brought back to wherever it was that you first heard Jesus say those words. The scriptures tell us they remembered. That it was enlightened in them, that God was producing that faith and helping them have the confidence to know that what he said is actually true. Here's the amazing part they haven't seen Jesus. Why didn't Jesus just show up at the tomb and Luke's account? Why did he have to send the two angels? Wouldn't it have been easier if Jesus would have just been there and Jesus could have said, hey, I'm here, or he could have, you know, rolled the stone away and come out and revealed himself. But that's not what happens in our text. Here's what's fascinating is what when they left the tomb, they went back to the eleven, which is the disciples of Jesus, these men, and to the others that were gathered there. And it even tells us the name of the women Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and all of the others who happened to be present, wondering what happened to Jesus and what their life was going to look like from this day forward. And so what I want to look at first, I want us to first look at what the women didn't do. I find this fascinating. The women didn't stay at the tomb. Did you notice that? They actually left. They didn't actually build a memorial. Like if they believed the angels and they believed that this was the location of where Jesus had risen from the dead, why didn't they go and gather flowers or stones or do something to kind of like protect the area? I think if it was us and we weren't sure what we would believe, we would probably turn into a crime scene, wouldn't we? We'd call the authorities, we'd get out the caution tape, the danger, the do not, you know, cross this line kind of stuff. And we would try to preserve this location because of our love for Jesus. Now, some of you may have said that you want to go and visit Israel on your bucket list. There's any of those people that you said that, like you really hope, and hope, and if things calm down over there, hopefully we can get back to having trips to go and experience and to relive uh in the steps of Jesus. And if you're unfamiliar, there's a couple places in Israel where they believe that Jesus raised from the dead. They believe that they have found his tomb. One of them is called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And this is a Catholic church. So this is where Catholics believe Jesus' resurrection actually took place. And so if you go inside the walls of Jerusalem, you go inside the walls or through the doors of the church, you can go to a certain spot, a certain location, and they're and really just be in that moment and kind of embrace the moment of where they believe Jesus rose from the dead. Now, for some reason, the Protestants have a different location of where they believe Jesus rose from the dead. How many of you know that? How many of you know there's actually two places? And so if you go to Israel, they actually take you to both places. And this one's called the Garden Tomb. Now, before I get into that, even though Catholics and Protestants have a different place in mind, I think we're all grateful that we all are on Team Jesus. Amen? Amen. So we're all on Team Jesus, and both of these places are actually not even that far from each other. And so there's this garden that you can go to if you want to go and experience where they believe Jesus rose from the dead. Here's what's interesting about what the women did do. They didn't stay, they left. And they went and they told the disciples. And here's what's really important is that they believed. They believed the angels without even seeing Jesus. Now, if you know the account and you've read it from the other scriptures, when the women tell the men, what did the men do? They said, Oh, you're you you saw two angels and the tomb was empty and Jesus' body wasn't there. Oh, we believe, and they lived happily ever after, right? No, the men didn't even believe the women, even after the women repeated what the angels said, which is what Jesus said. In fact, two of them had to run to the tomb and look and see that it was empty for themselves. I was blessed that I had the opportunity to go to Israel several years ago, and so I actually got to go to both of these locations, including the garden tomb. And if you know me, I'm always taking things in and kind of analyzing things, but one of the things that I also love to do is watch people's behaviors. Like I'm a I am a professing self-people watcher. Anybody else do that? You go to a park, airports are great for this. Some people call it stalking. I would just say you're just trying to, you know, take in human behavior, and so it's really crowded at these sites, actually. And you have to wait your turn and you're with a certain group of people. And so I was watching every single group that was going before us in this particular location. And what I found fascinating is that every time an individual approached this area right here, they all did the same thing. And do you know what that is? What do you think that is? Every single one of them looked inside. And I thought to myself, wait a second, we're 2,000 years later. There certainly can't be anything inside there. We believe that he rose from the dead. When I get to that location, I'm gonna be like no one else in this entire place. I am not going to look inside there. There is no reason to look inside there. Why do I need to look inside there? And so when our group got called and we got to go, and there were some of the people in our group that went before, every single one of them looked inside. Every one single one of them looked inside. And when it finally got to my turn, and I got to that place where you can step in and look, guess what I did? How did you know? I looked inside, and then I got mad at myself. I was like, Tim, what are you doing? And then this is just my humor. I thought, wouldn't it be cool if they had somebody in the back that was kind of like in the shadow and he had a microphone? And every time somebody looked in, he just said this, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen. And I think it would just be cool if you have every single person that same, you know, first Easter experience. But of course, you have to get your picture because that's what you do. This is what's important. The empty tomb does not actually gather spectators. Again, it's like no other monument or significance on the planet. Instead, what the empty tomb was designed to do was to create witnesses, starting with the women, starting with the first two disciples, Peter and John, that got to the tomb and saw that it was empty. And it's interesting because it would have been much easier for Jesus just to reveal himself to everybody all at one time. And he doesn't do that. That's not what he does. In fact, one of the disciples, uh, when he revealed himself to the remaining disciples, wasn't even with them the first time. He was his name's Thomas, and that's why he's often called doubting Thomas. And what is it that God is doing in those moments? Why is it that he seems to prolong some of the things that we think would be simple if he just revealed himself to everyone? And the answer always is that he is producing faith in our hearts and our lives and getting us to believe and cling to what we cannot see in the here and now so that we believe in the eternal and who he is and what he's doing. It always goes back to the person and work of Jesus. In fact, the early church picked up on this. There was a guy named Paul that was not an eyewitness to Jesus' death or resurrection, but he had access to those people as well. And when God gripped his heart and he became a believer, he started spreading the message of the resurrection of Jesus. And so he would go around to different cities trying to help people know who Jesus is and what he had done for them. And he got to a certain point where he said, if Christ has not been raised from the dead, our preaching is useless. And so is your faith and my faith. Like everything about Christianity hinges on whether or not Jesus actually took a step out of that tomb. If God really has the ability to raise himself from the dead. I mean, you can believe in Jesus, you can read the Bible, you can look at all the good moral teaching that he did. You can go to the, you know, the Sermon on the Mount, everybody loves that. Take care of the poor, take care of the sick, take care of the widows. Those are all the scriptures that we cling to. You know, be kind to people, treat people as you want to be treated. But if all he is is a prophet or a good person, and he doesn't actually rise from the dead, then there is actually no power to save you and me from our sins. That means there's this connection that is still lost between us and God, our Father. In fact, Jesus, when he was doing his ministry, would go around and he would teach large crowds. I don't think we realize the magnitude sometimes of the crowds that would gather to hear Jesus preach. And almost every single time there was a group of people that would contradict what he said. And they would point out that what he is saying is actually not true. And when Jesus would make claims that he was the Messiah, they would be quick to say that is not the Messiah, and this is why you should not put your faith in him. And on one of these particular circumstances, Jesus actually says these words to the religious leaders that he's debating. He says, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And when he says this, he's actually pointing to a physical location. He's pointing to their temple system where everything revolved around that. It's where the priests did their ministry, it's where the people would bring their sacrifices, it's where they would celebrate their festivals. I mean, for them at that time, everything revolved around that. And that was a system that God had created for them to connect with him. But over time, what man had done is turned it into a legalistic system of do's and don'ts. And they put this heavy burden on the people. And so people, instead of having a relationship with God, it was all about checking boxes and meeting certain criteria in order to actually be what they thought would be accepted by God. And that's why Jesus came. Jesus came to contradict that. Jesus came to right the wrong of the system that had been taken over by sinful men. And what's so interesting is he says this phrase, they don't actually know what he's saying. They don't actually understand what he's saying because their reply back to him is, it's taken us 46 years to build this temple. I mean, that's a long time. Imagine taking 46 years to build a house. Some of you know that we're in a building program and you're like, man, it's taken you 46 years to build the church, Tim. Can you please finish it in my lifetime? And if you're new to Shepherd's Gate, don't look up. Don't look up, because you might not know this, but you're actually currently in a gymnasium. We've kind of abandoned our former worship center and we're in the process of tearing it down. We're gonna build a new one in the same location. But here's the good news for you and me today. We are not in church. It doesn't matter what building that we're in or what space we occupy, or even in the fact that we're literally in a gymnasium right now. The church is you and me. The church is the gathering of God's people, and it starts with Jesus because the temple he had spoken of was his body. He was saying, you can take the temple because I now am the temple. I am not only the temple, I'm the priest, and I'm the sacrifice. Everything is going to be fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus. And because of what he's done, we now become the temples of God. The scriptures tell us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And so God now has the ability to give us his Holy Spirit to place inside of our lives. And by the way, that spirit that lives inside the believer is the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. That's how much power you have living in you. And it's not because of you. You can't do anything to earn or deserve this. It's because of what Jesus did when he hung on the cross, and your sins and my sins were put upon him. And he said, No more of this. It is finished. And not only because of the accomplished work on the cross, but because he took that big, bold first step out of that tomb. And when he did that, he declared victory over our sins and over death and over the devil once and for all. Amen. This is why we sing the songs that we do. He's our living hope. Jesus is our living reality. So think about it again. Think about what we do instinctively as humans. We got lots of historical sites. But unfortunately, we're still experiencing tragedies and wars to this day. Which means more monuments are going to be built and there's going to be more places to go and visit. We know that we have loved ones that have gone on before us, that are currently in temporary resting places. Just so you know, when you put somebody in the ground or you put them wherever that place may be, that's just temporary until Jesus calls them completely home. And of course, think of all the holy places, not only in our religion, but in other religions that you can visit all over the world. But here's what's even more important is that God is the one who builds heavenly realities. The tomb is empty. The tomb that he was laid in does not contain his body anymore. And because of that, our souls have been set free. Why have our souls been set free? Because he has taken our sins from us completely, 100%, no matter where you're at and what you have committed. No matter if you've been in church or haven't been in church, no matter if you weren't here, you know, even at Christmas and you weren't here since last Easter, none of that actually matters. You don't get point systems and check marks in the kingdom of God. God does it all for us. And he loves you and he sees you and he knows the words that have come out of your mouth. He knows the things that you have done and he still loves you and he wants to take those things from you. He wants to forgive you and instead fill you with a joy and a peace and a purpose that only He can give you. Which is why you don't have to wait until you die for your eternity to start. That the moment that God comes to you, whether it's in the waters of baptism or whether he produces faith in your heart and your life, that is when eternity starts for the believer. And if you're here today and you don't know Jesus, our prayer is that that reality will happen for you today before you leave this place. Once again, the most important place in history, in all of human history, on this planet and in the galaxies, no matter where you go, is empty. Isn't that crazy to think about? The most important place in all of human history is empty, and we're not even sure where it's at. Praise God! Isn't that freeing and liberating? Because the Spirit of God lives inside of you, and God wants to fill you with hope and purpose and meaning beyond your wildest dreams. Because you know why? This world that we live in will continue to drag you down. The things of this world that you want to chase, whatever that may be, you might get joy for a certain period of time, but it is not going to give you true joy and peace that is only found in a relationship with Jesus. And so this Easter, whatever reason you may be here today, maybe this is your church, and so where else would you be on Easter? Or maybe you're here because you came with a family member or a friend. Maybe they even bribed you to be here. Anyone get bribed with a nice ham dinner after this? I just don't think you're here on accident. The people that invited you invited you because they love you. And they know what it is that Jesus has done for them, and they want the same for your life. So again, here at Shepherd's Gate, we don't want anything from you. We simply want Jesus for you. And I pray that everyone within the sound of my voice does not leave here today without knowing the hope they can have in Jesus. Amen. Will you bow your heads and close your eyes with me this morning? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your amazing grace and mercy. God, that even as you stretch the faith of the very first people on the very first Easter, that God, you continue to stretch our faith. And even though we don't always understand all of the circumstances that surround us, we know and trust that you are at work. God, I thank you for my friends that are here today. And I do pray that if there is anyone here in person or watching online that does not know you and the hope they can have with you, that God, in this moment, they will admit that they are sinners. That they will admit that what the world has to offer doesn't actually bring true joy and peace into their lives. But that God, in this moment, they recognize you as their creator and that you are the one that sent your one and only Son to this earth to not just die, but to rise again, to give them life and give it to the full. And so, God, we pray that in this moment you do your greatest work in producing faith in our hearts and our lives. God, help us once again to cling to the cross, but also to rejoice in the empty tomb. God, we love you. We thank you, we pray all these things in your most holy and precious name.

unknown 32:36

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

We hope this message was helpful to you today, and we welcome you to join us live in person or online every Sunday. If you're interested in accessing more on demand content, please visit Sgatechurch.org.