WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:03.040 Happy Resurrection Sunday. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:08.000 Thank you so much for joining us for one of our final morning devotions. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:14.320 And today we're talking about the greatest news the history of the world has ever known the resurrection of Jesus. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.000 The title for this morning's devotion is Expect the Unexpected. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:21.600 We're looking at Matthew chapter twenty-eight, verses five through ten. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:30.879 It says this But the angel said to the woman, Do not be afraid, for I know that you come to seek Jesus who was crucified. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:34.560 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:37.200 Come, see the place where he lay. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:45.039 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:46.640 There you will see him. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:48.240 See, I have told you. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:01:01.520 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples, and behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:09.920 Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:12.159 Happy Easter. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:18.079 Our Lord has risen from the grave and is alive and reigning at the right hand of the Father this morning. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:19.280 Hallelujah. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:27.840 As we prepare to celebrate the resurrection today, we are filled with jubilant excitement and joyful expectation. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:34.799 We expect to express our gratitude to God for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and triumph over death. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:37.280 We expect to adore Him in worship. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:40.799 We expect to spend time celebrating with family and friends. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:53.439 We enter this day with expectation based upon what we know to be true about the life, death, and resurrection, and what we joyfully await to see fulfilled when Jesus returns to take us home. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:02:00.400 However, the followers of Jesus did not enter the first Easter Sunday with hopeful expectation. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:05.359 They entered it with deep anguish, confusion, and crushing fear. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:13.360 But the resurrection changes everything, and we see the angel delivering unexpected news to the woman who approached the tomb. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:24.719 He offered encouragement, an announcement, a command, and a promise that revolutionized the reality that woke up in that Sunday morning and changes the course of human history. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:32.800 The woman who visited Jesus' tomb on Sunday morning did not go there because they were expecting an angelic messenger. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:47.039 Though Jesus told his disciples multiple times, at least three times recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, about God's plan for him to raise from the dead, they did not come to check to see if Jesus had done what he had said. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:56.800 They went to mourn and to continue the anointing and preservation of Jesus' body that was more than likely cut short by the Sabbath the day before. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:00.960 They didn't come to see an angel, they came to see a corpse. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:08.479 We know that their immediate response to the angel's appearance was fear, because his first words to them are encouragement. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:10.240 Do not be afraid. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:15.199 Fear seems to be a common human response in this resurrection story. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:21.680 Fear, or being afraid, is referenced four times in the first ten verses of Matthew chapter 28. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:27.919 The initial cause of fear being the earth-shaking appearance of the angel in verse 2. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:36.080 The angel, looking much like lightning in human form, descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:52.960 This warrior of light was so fierce that the men guarding the tomb, hardened Roman legionaries, trained in the art of torture, shook and became like dead men, and the women, not expecting an angel, quake in fear at the sight of him. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:04:00.719 After he delivers the unexpected encouragement, telling them not to be afraid, he continues with an unexpected announcement. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:04.400 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:12.560 The angel reminds the women that the very thing that has happened should have been expected, because Jesus had told them it would be so. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:24.959 Jesus triumphed over the grave, confirmed everything he said, and did throughout his life in ministry, and accomplished the reconciliation of men to God once and for all, by the only means possible. 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:36.560 The women didn't expect an empty tomb, but the angel rolled the stone away, announced his resurrection, and invited the women inside to see where the lifeless body was once lain. 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:48.959 Can you imagine going to the tomb to sit heartbroken with their body of their beloved master, and then bid by an angel to see that he had really done it. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.160 He had risen and had rescued the whole world. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:05:02.399 The women, first paralyzed with fear at the angel's presence, and then standing in awe at the empty tomb, were then given an unexpected message and mission. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:08.639 He commanded them to go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:14.319 What a beautiful, unexpected mission, given to the most unexpected people. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:23.279 Not only were these lowly women the first to witness the resurrection, but they were the first to proclaim the news of the resurrection to others. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:40.879 The mission they set out on that morning was to embalm a body, was replaced by a much greater one, to spread the news of Jesus that he was alive, and the last thing the angel told them before they departed from the tomb was the most glorious, unexpected promise. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:46.240 He told them that they would encounter the resurrected Lord. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:52.560 Jesus wasn't simply raised from the dead, he was raised and would continue his relationship with them. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:06:13.040 The women came to the tomb expecting to mourn their beloved Messiah and to see Jesus as they last saw him, bruised and bloody, lifeless and cold, but instead, but instead, when they met him, his voice greeted them, and they grasped at his feet of his newly resurrected body as they fell down to worship him. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:16.639 The women left the tomb different than they had come to it. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:21.040 They approached it with sorrow and fear and left with fear and with joy. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:23.839 I love the detail that is included in verse 8. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:30.079 Fear is present in the minds and the hearts of the women, even after seeing the angel and the empty tomb. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:43.040 They knew when they got there that morning that they would leave the tomb with fear, because their Savior was dead, because their future seemed uncertain, because they didn't know if the Romans might come after them next. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:52.319 But when they left the tomb that morning, even though they still left with fear, it was not the only thing, or the greatest thing they left with. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:07:04.639 They left with unexpected encouragement, an unexpected announcement, an unexpected message and mission, and the fulfillment of an unexpected promise, an encounter with their resurrected Savior. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:09.199 They left with one more thing that was unexpected, great joy. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:17.120 And so our action this morning, the Sunday morning the women spent at the tomb was full of beautiful, unexpected blessings. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:24.319 Let's celebrate the resurrection today with expectations that reflect the power and sovereignty of our great God. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:30.639 The surprise of the women at the tomb showed us that they didn't truly expect Jesus to rise from the grave. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:36.480 Let's be people that know that God is faithful and trustworthy and live like it. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:39.519 Expect Him to do what He says he will do. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:44.959 Every follower of Jesus receives the same mission and message that the women at the tomb did. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:48.079 Go and tell others that Jesus is alive. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:57.920 Expect him to equip and use you to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus with any and everyone whose lives he allows you to intersect. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:06.160 Send a text or make a phone call this morning to share your joy about the resurrection and invite someone to come with you to celebrate it at church. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:10.079 Expect a personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus today. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:13.360 Prepare your heart and your mind to worship this morning. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:18.399 Spend time reading back over Matthew chapter 28 andor John chapter 20. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:26.079 Spend time thanking Jesus for what he's already done for you and asking him to allow you to encounter him in a new way. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:34.720 And so we pray, Jesus, I praise you because you are the Lamb who was slain and the victor who has conquered the grave. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:41.840 Thank you for your sacrifice on the cross and for breaking the hold of death over me through the resurrection. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:46.240 Jesus, I am expecting to see you move today in powerful ways. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:50.720 Would you bring people from death to life today in churches all over the world? 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:55.039 Would you break chains and move mountains and bring people to know you? 00:08:55.279 --> 00:09:01.840 Give me a renewed passion and boldness to join your mission of bringing the message of the gospel to the world. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:04.799 Jesus, I want to encounter you today. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:06.320 Show me your glory. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:07.200 I love you. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.080 Amen. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:14.480 Thank you so much for joining us this morning, and we do hope that you will be joining us at one of our services. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:24.159 At our Walnut Grove campus, we have service at 8 a.m., 9 15, and 11, and in Social Circle at 9 15 and 11, and then online at 9 15 and 11. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:30.960 We hope that you have a fantastic resurrection Sunday, and we'll see you back for a few more devotions tomorrow.