Very early that Sunday morning the women made their way to the tomb Carrying spices they had prepared When they arrived they discovered that the stone covering the entrance had been rolled away They went in to look but the tomb was empty the body of Jesus was gone They stood there stunned and confused when suddenly two men appeared with them dressed in shining garments The women were terrified and fell to the ground, but the men said to them Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here for he is risen Leaving the tomb the women ran to tell the disciples and all the other people what they had seen and heard For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son That whoever believes in him would not die, but have everlasting life in In the sacrifice of Jesus's crucifixion We are shown the depths of God's unending love and in the glorious splendor of his resurrection We see a triumphant victory over death freedom from the grave and the promise of eternal life with Jesus Well, happy Easter radiant church happy Easter to our portage location and downtown Location as we're gathering together. Come on everybody here in Richland. Let's wish everybody a happy Easter our family. We love you guys Also those of you who are joining us online happy Easter this morning, we hope this has been a fantastic start How many know it's better than previous Easter's because we don't have snow That's a glorious thing. It's always so sad to see little girls and their beautiful little dresses with their parkas over the top of it It's just not right, but it's a great day. It's a beautiful Easter morning We're so glad you're here with us. I want to share a message with you this this 2023 Easter that is a continuation of our series that we've been in called why I believe and The title of this message is why I believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead You know, this is my 26th Easter message as a senior pastor and every year you kind of come to Christmas And you come to Easter, which are the same foundational stories that Christianity is built upon They're the foundational blocks looking for a unique perspective or angle that's going to help Extend you aid and help expand our all-in-our-wonder at the miracle that is our faith This year. I don't believe I've ever brought this approach, but this is going to be much more of a Apologetic message than it is inspirational now by hope is that it's inspirational But it's it's meant to give you a why behind the what because when we talk about Easter or the Resurrection event of Jesus from the dead Oftentimes people will ask the question. Well, what's the big deal about Easter? I mean there are even people that will say well Jesus when he raised from the dead He really didn't raise from the dead But the disciples kind of raised his teaching or raised a remembrance of who he was But do you really believe that Jesus who was fully God and yet also fully human Who died on a Roman cross and was buried in a borrowed tomb? Do you really believe that Jesus rose again from the dead? And the answer to that question is yes, and if you are a follower of Jesus Then your answer is yes as well But although your answer might be yes Your why behind the answer may not be as solid as you wish it was so this morning I'm gonna share with you why I believe in The resurrection from the dead and I'd like to invite you to look in your Bibles if you brought one to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 1st Corinthians chapter 15 Paul's writing to the Corinthian believers who are Primarily people that came out of pagan religions Who heard the gospel proclaimed to them and believed it and It has transformed and changed them into a church made up of people from every kind of background you can think of who are now Living in the midst of a culture that is adamantly opposed to what they believe in fact The Greek culture looked at the idea of the resurrection from the dead and saw it as foolish And even today in our world there are similarities because many people in our culture Many people in our world who have a different world view look at what we believe as Christians and call it foolish But Paul says in the very opening chapters of 1st Corinthians The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is life and salvation to those who believe So he writes in 1st Corinthians 15 verse 3 For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures That's the Old Testament That he was buried and that he was raised on a third day in accordance with the scriptures And that he appeared to Cephas and then to the 12 And then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time Most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep And then he appeared to James Then to all the apostles and last of all To me as to one untimely born he appeared also And then in verse 13 if you jump down Paul says this but if there is no resurrection Of the dead not even Christ has been raised And if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is also in vain So when we ask a question, what's the big deal about Easter? The big deal is is that the faith our relationship with God Christianity as a whole and the message that we boldly and confidently proclaim rests upon The resurrection event from the dead of Jesus And so it's important that we know what the big deal is about Easter. You know every time every year about this time In the middle of our society and especially among the media They love to ask the question who was Jesus In fact magazine covers like this one here life magazine Jesus. Who do you say that I am? Or news week or time magazine will Will put a cover With Jesus on it and ask the question the search for the historical Jesus. Did Jesus really raise from the dead? And this one is particular interesting because Jesus asked this question of his disciples himself He's first said who do men say that I am and then he asked the whole important question Who do you say that I am? And Peter said you are the son of the living God the Messiah This was the difference maker. It's interesting that when we ask the question What's the big deal about Easter? We also have to ask the question Who do we say that Jesus is and what do we say about the resurrection? What do we say Easter is really all about? You know, I know as a kid A child growing up in our home Easter for me was a big day because my parents went all out on Easter baskets I mean, I don't know how you guys are our children always complained because they were pks We didn't we didn't give them Easter baskets. And so Two out of the three I think are in therapy over the fact that they didn't Get Easter baskets, but I remember growing up and we told our kids We didn't give you Easter baskets because we were busy getting ready for church But in my home growing up my mom and dad would go crazy. You know the the hollow Easter bunnies the chocolate Life-size milk chocolate Easter bunny. I love that. I would eat that before breakfast Just as a warm-up and then you move on to the the Reese's peanut butter chocolate eggs And then you you know, you have a few jelly beans just in between Then you work your way to the Cadbury Easter eggs And the reason why you push the peeps all the way to the end is because they will survive anything including a nuclear blast And so you're good if you save those for next year, it's fine But my parents would always stuff it with books and they would hide the They would hide the plastic Easter eggs all throughout the house and you know I'd wake up and that was kind of our tradition and for a lot of people. That's what Easter is Easter is a time For children to have fun and I love that it's a time to dress up and your finest to put your pastels on And to go to church together and have a ham dinner or whatever it is that you you know You're gonna gather with your family and have at this time of year and all those things are great, but The essence of what is so important about Easter is the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead And it's important that if that's true and we believe that that we know why that we believe that so this morning Let me take a few moments and share with you why I believe in the resurrection of Jesus The first reason I would say is that the historical life crucifixion of Jesus is Hands down the best documented course of events in ancient world history Now some would say well, what do you mean by that? I mean there are a lot of events that we have in our history books that have been attested by ancient historians But none so validated by such a wide audience not just confirmation bias Of the life and the death and I would even say the resurrection of Jesus It's a historical fact verifiable by the same manner and by the same means that we verify all other historical facts In fact even more so Now i'm not just talking about the bible the bible especially the new testament Is particularly important and relevant because it is written by eyewitnesses of these events The words that we just read from the apostle paul were written within two decades of the resurrection event And he's writing to believers and he's giving to them what has become known as one of the ancient creeds He's like I give that to you in first importance that which I also received and you can see the creed in there But beyond the witness of the new testament eyewitnesses that some would say are biased You can see it in other historical places for example a man named flavius josephus who was a jewish leader During the time of 70 ad when the romans under titus came and sieged and destroyed the city of jerusalem and scattered all the jews throughout europe He wrote in his books This is within the same generation He said quote at this time there was a wise man who was called jesus And his conduct was good and his learning outstanding and many people from among the jews and the other nations became his disciples Pilate condemned him To be crucified and to die and those who had become his disciples did not abandon their discipleship This is a jewish non christian author from the first century or how about a roman Leader who was a ruler over a region of the roman empire in modern day turkey. His name is tesadus tesadus is writing a discourse a letter to the emperor of rom whose name was nero in 64 ad This is 30 years after the resurrection event and here's what he mentions about christ. He says christus or christus From whom the name had its origin Suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators Pontius pilot now some will say well, maybe he was a christian No, actually he was writing the letter to get advice on how to persecute these followers so that they could extinguish christianity from the roman empire Or you could take a look at the 15 examples in the babelonian tulmud from the first century Where jewish leaders who also hated christianity wrote about jesus and his followers and his crucifixion A man named lucian of samosada Wrote this in the first century the crucified under Pontius pilot in jerusalem And that his followers were still in existence because of their belief that he rose from the dead This is within 20 to 30 years of the historical events taking place So the next time somebody tells you jesus is a myth. He was made up. He wasn't a real man It's like you have to take into consideration That if we say that we believe in figures like let's say alexander the great Who was born some 350 years before jesus? That our belief in alexander the great is based upon two original Biographical accounts by the life of arian and plutarck who wrote their words 400 years after alexander supposedly died But yet nobody in secular universities or in our culture would dare doubt the existence of alexander the great But we've got multiple eye witness accounts of his followers and multiple Historical writings both in the jewish and in the roman world about the life of jesus. It is beyond dispute But if we move beyond that and we think well, okay, what about some eyewitness accounts? Okay, what about the eyewitness accounts of jesus's resurrection? How do we know maybe jesus was a historical figure? Maybe he was a great teacher maybe he was a spiritual avatar or a rabbi, but He he was most likely killed And that was it, you know, that's not unusual for revolutionaries or Political leaders or even religious leaders and before his ascension into heaven Some of those appearances were to individuals Some of them were to several disciples at a time and once to 500 eyewitnesses at one time Now some would say well the disciples thought they saw jesus It was a hallucination or maybe they were just stressed out and under a psychosis Because of the trauma that had just taken place in seeing their leader crucified. Maybe they thought they saw jesus. Well, that makes sense if it's just one The astronomical odds of that happening if there were two like the two walking on the road to Emmaus Maybe you can make an argument But when you have 500 people Eyewitnessing the resurrected jesus in person at the same time saying the same things It is beyond dispute. It would be like this This last week jane and I were up north at a little cabin just taking a couple days before Easter And at night I walked upstairs.  It was like Thing was the size of a dragon And I freaked out. I like turned around is shot down into the the cabin area I went down so I told jane I saw a bat. So we walked around the house looking for that bat. We could not find that bat I looked everywhere curtains closets Everywhere the next day. I mean we slept with the covers over our head the next day We woke up and we thought okay. Surely we're going to see it tonight that night pitch black. No bat jane looks at me and says Maybe you only thought you saw a bat Maybe it was in your imagination. I'm like, no, I saw a bat I mean that thing was straight out of lord of the rings. I mean that was But she could argue and say well, maybe you obviously didn't see because where is it at now? If I had 500 people with me Walking up the stairs at the same time and that bat shot out at us Jane could not say to me. Maybe you all thought you saw a bat No, all of us 500 of us and that would still not be enough to get rid of that bat by the way 500 of us there is no doubt that we saw a bat There are 500 witnesses that paul says in first Corinthians Many of whom are still alive to this day in other words They couldn't falsify this story because there are people who were still alive to say yes. I was there I saw it. I saw Jesus raised from the dead. It was not an apparition. It was not a ghost It was not our imagination. I heard him say what he heard him say and we all heard it together eyewitnesses accounts that do not lie and The reality is I want to give you real quick and bullet bullet form here What I believe are eight Facts that confirm the resurrection to us in a logical factual form number one is Jesus predicted his own death and his own resurrection And matthew 16 he told his disciples. He said That he was going to have to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes And be killed and to be raised the third day now. Who's writing that matthew? Who's matthew matthew is the disciple of jesus And so some would say well, of course, he's saying that he's biased actually If matthew has any reason to embellish anything it would be to embellish that jesus did not rise from the dead Because what it ultimately would lead to is matthew would die For the faith and die because of the reality of what he believed Happened and that was that jesus rose from the dead.  He knew that it probably was going to come But it's a whole another thing to predict your own resurrection that he claimed out of the old testament prophet spoke of The third day he would be raised from the dead The second fact out of the new testament that we see is the empty tomb It's the empty tomb remember paul is writing two decades It's just a 20 short year period of time after the events and the church is swelling because the apostles are preaching But the empty tomb is a great testimony You see because all it would have taken for the critics Of jesus and the critics of the church in its early formation, whether it was the romans or the jewish Leaders that wanted to get rid of this sect all they would have had to do was walk people to a tomb and say nope He's still there Because it was beyond a doubt that he was tortured It was beyond a doubt that he was killed It was beyond a doubt that his body was laid behind a tomb. In fact, what we know Is that the religious leaders were nervous because they knew that jesus had predicted his resurrection And so they went to the roman leaders and said He told his disciples after three days. He was going to be raised from the dead So here's what we want you to do. We want you to put the roman seal upon the stone and post guards in front of it You can find that in matthew 27 verse 66 And literally what we know is that they rolled a multi thousand pound stone in front of the tomb And they posted the roman imperial seal across the stone And they placed a unit of roman centurions to guard it You can look this up in secular roman military Antiquities and a unit with 16 soldiers Who were trained to guard a six by six square foot of space at the penalty of death And it wasn't just death if one failed if one failed all 16 of them would be instantly executed If the seal had been broken But the fact that the disciples could point to the To the eyewitnesses and the people alive in jerusalem in the surrounding area at the time and say the tomb is empty meant that Literally they knew where the tomb was and people could go and they could see Joseph of eramathia who gave him the tomb would be there to validate and say that is my tomb He was buried there, but he is not there anymore the empty tomb was incredible evidence that something supernatural took place The third evidence is as we've just recounted the appearances of jesus That he appeared to them and one of the most remarkable ones is that he appeared to paul or saul Saul of tarsis who did not believe in jesus in fact persecuted jesus hated jesus was raised up under Gamaliel who was the greatest rabbi in judaism during the time of the ministry of jesus and gave his whole life to destroy The followers of jesus he persecuted them he was there when they were executed He grabbed them off to prison but then all of a sudden on a road to demascus The man on the middle cross who had been raised on the third day appeared to him and said saul saul Why are you persecuting me? I am jesus And everything changed in saul's life and the one who was the destroyer of the church became god's architect for building the church You've got to explain what took place in this man's life the the modern equivalent Of paul's conversion would be if osama bin laden had converted to christianity Instead of dying and become a leader of the building of the church in the middle east That would have surpassed all intellect and belief Number four is the response of the religious leaders Matthew 28 says that they told the guards after they came back said what do we do said tell the life spread the story that his disciples came and stole the body ha Came and stole the body. This is the same disciples that denied to even knew him to a teenage girl in front of a fire These are the same disciples that on the night in which jesus was arrested. They ran for dear life These are the same disciples that Went back to fishing up in galilee and yet now Here they are Sneaking past 16 roman soldiers breaking the imperial seal rolling away a thousand pound stone And snatching the body of their savior all for the sake of creating a mythological faith that they would willingly lay their lives down for That they knew was a lie. I'll tell you what that is I raised three teenagers and most of them have been caught in lies But none of them are willing to die for their lives And neither are most of us They laid down their lives As a testimony to the reality of the resurrection of jesus Last month jane and I were in india And we were with brother abraham and we flew to the south part of india a state of india called carola And carola is a tropical Region of india that's right on the southern southwest coast of india and when we got there abraham. This is his ancestral home He said yes, this Is the place that the apostle thomas Landed 2,000 years ago when his ship came to shore and he began to preach the gospel to the indian people years ago And he marched 240 miles across the peninsula of southern india to the city of chennai Where to this day and i've seen it there is a tomb and a mound A burial place of the apostle thomas because they shot him through with arrows As he preached the gospel but many believed And there is a church that is there that is 2,000 years old called st. thomas You want to talk about believing in something thomas after he doubted and he said i'll believe when i touch his hand and his feet Fell down and worshiped him when he saw the resurrected jesus And it's so impacted his life That he traveled to the uttermost parts of the world to india Where he laid down his life that today the reason why there are so many christians in the south of india Is because thomas took jesus's words to heart and he went to the ends of the earth proclaiming the gospel to all creation Listen, you don't do that for a lie You don't do that out of Sentimentality you don't do that out of nostalgia This is number five. It's the transformation of the disciples from cowards who ran To bold apostles who preached They stood up in jerusalem And they preached to the very same crowds that days earlier yelled hosanna and now We're crying crucify him and now we're crying. What shall we do that we might be saved? What gave them that boldness what gave them that confidence? It was nothing else than encountering the one who defeated death itself Number six their willingness to die for this truth number seven Christianity's impact on history in and of itself is not enough But if you look at the implications of it as they fulfilled acts one eight from jerusalem judaea Sumeria to the uttermost parts of the world We see the effects of the gospel taking root in people's lives and transforming society If you are glad that you live in western civilization where you can go to the best hospitals Where you are cared for by the best physicians and nurses Then you can think christianity because prior to jesus there were no hospitals hospitals are the result of christians Taking jesus's words to care for the poor and the sick and the story of the good samaritan Informing the very first hospitals if you enjoy your education the idea of universities that were built around the pursuit of truth were built first by christians Because we believe that jesus is the way the truth and the life the very first scientists Who began to dive deep into nature and creation? Were christians because they believed that god was creator and he had made everything good and everything by design And they wanted to explore how god had created everything I mean you could go on and on and on and we can think about the fact that what began as a handful of rag tag gal leons In an upper room in jerusalem Under threat of death and persecution has become a global movement Of followers of jesus that transcends all cultures all languages and all barriers that politics And even nationalism has not been able to unify there is not unity anywhere in the world There's nothing but wars and rumors of wars But there is a nation within the nations and it is the nation of the church of jesus christ the resurrected king of glory And number eight is perhaps the most powerful and It's the experience of billions of people The experience of billions of people See you can argue history and you could argue doctrine I've had those arguments I've talked with people that are atheists and agnostics. I've heard their arguments There are wiser smarter Men and debaters orators than I But what you cannot debate with Is the testimony of a person Who has encountered the resurrected jesus and their life has been forever transformed So you don't need a college degree You don't have to be a Phd To tell the story of how jesus has changed your life We could march them up by the thousands just in our own city up on this stage and say I was once blind, but now I see I once was burdened by my sin and weighed down with guilt and shame But now i'm filled with joy i'm filled with hope i'm filled with peace I once wondered what my life was for And I had everything that this world can offer, but yet my heart was a dark hole And it had no hope and it had no meaning and it had no purpose I once was sick and infirmed and the doctors gave up on me But then jesus touched me and healed me and there is no explanation for it I once suffered under the chains and the fetters of depression and anxiety, but jesus set me free I once was clothed in confusion But now i'm dressed in a robe of righteousness and while we could argue well Did that really happen the power of the resurrection the same spirit that raised jesus from the dead is still raising people's lives Saving them to the uttermost and changing and transforming them See jesus is alive So if he really is alive What does it mean? Well if jesus rose from the dead just as paul said if If christ is not risen from the dead then We have hope in this life only and therefore we are people to be most pitied But if jesus is raised from the dead then number one Hope has also been raised jesus said i am the resurrection and i am the life he who believes in me though he dies Yet shall he live which means we don't have to be captive by the fear of death And we don't have to live our lives without purpose or hope That's what jesus came to give us to connect us back to our god back to our creator He didn't just send a book and say figure it out. He didn't send an angel to announce it He came himself This is what's different than all other religions. I've had people tell me christianity is just one of many different ways That's not what jesus said Jesus didn't say i am a way i am a truth and i am a life No man comeeth under the father except by me or various other Pathways jesus let me put it this way. There is no coexist sticker on the cross Jesus said i am the way the truth and the life no man comeeth under the father But by me and you might say well prove it. Jesus says on easter. I did Muhammad wrote a book But he didn't rise from the dead buddha wrote philosophy, but he didn't rise from the dead There are a lot of spiritual avatars that have come along and tried to instill into human Humanity and society a way of living but none of them have been able to overcome the grave There's only one who has gone into the grave and come back out and when he came back out. He said i am alive forever more This is who we worship. This is where hope is born What does it mean? It means that it validates all of jesus's claims of exclusivity and it also means that right now Jesus is preparing a place for those who believe in him It's what he said in john. He said Let not your hearts be troubled believe in god believe also in me and my father's house are many Rooms if it were not so i would have told you i'm going to prepare a place for you This is what jesus is busy doing right now. Sometimes i get the best question from kids And so one one year i had a little boy come up to me At the end of service i can't remember when it was and he goes i know jesus wrote from the dead But what's he doing right now? I thought man, that's a great question What's jesus doing right now? I can tell you what he's doing the bible tells us says that he seated at the right hand of god right now think about this A resurrected jewish man who is fully god is seated next to god the father On a throne at the center of the universe waiting for the moment that the father says for him to return And in the meantime he forever makes intercession for you and me So what he's doing right now? He's interceding. He sees you.   He's preaching to the Philosophers and the stoics and the epicureans and the Thinkers of his day at the areopagus And as he's preaching here's what he says about god in x 17 verse 30 says the times of ignorance god has overlooked But now he commands all people everywhere to repent Because he has fixed a day On which he will judge the world In righteousness By a man whom he has appointed And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead Jesus's resurrection Was a down payment On what god intends to do when he returns To make his enemies his foot stool into establishes kingdom. You see jesus isn't done He came the first time to save our souls. He's come into second time to make all things that are wrong right again Think about this.  He's seen how we live our lives Trying to figure it out sees how we live our lives trying to grasp on to other things that will give us Purpose and hope he says now he's overlooked all that but he's now calling us to repent Which means to turn to change It says because he has appointed a day god has a day on his calendar when jesus is coming back who's going to judge every living person He's appointed him and that day is coming And he proved it by raising jesus from the dead And today Here's what it means if you believe in jesus It means that you have hope It means that you have life It means that you have purpose and it means you have a place in god's kingdom That's what salvation is that means we're no longer guilty before god That means we don't have to wonder any longer means we are saved We have eternal life and that there's gonna come a day when even if we die We're gonna be raised from the dead in the same way that jesus is and we're gonna live forever more in his kingdom That is the promise to all who believe in him. That's why the disciples Did not fear laying down their lives because they knew if jesus raised He's gonna raise me as well. That means we don't have to be afraid of death That means we're never gonna be lost. That means our sins are forever forgiven and hope has been born Here's the big question is do you believe? Is do you? Well, yeah, I believe pastor, but I'm just kind of living my life. I mean I believe in jesus Well, I believe But help my unbelief Listen wherever you're at today jesus is calling us To believe And then to live like he really is raised from the dead because here's the deal if we really believe jesus was raised from the dead It ought to change the way that we live It ought to fill us with joy. It ought to fill us with peace We can look at what's going on in the world and say Let the nations rage. There's coming a day when our king is returning We can look at the darkness and we can say it might be dark out there, but it's light in here You can try and steal my stuff. You can try and steal my joy But you can't steal my hope because jesus is alive and he lives in me And I am a man and a woman of resurrection Wherever you're at.  I want to ask you do you believe The only way for us to be made right with god is to believe I'm not just talking about believe. I'm talking about believe And today here's what I know in this room are three kinds of people number one Those who believe and it has changed and transformed your lives just like the disciples It's like i'm a christian. I believe in jesus and my life is vested in that praise god We don't do that because we're better. We do that because we needed grace and god saved us and we believed But there's two other groups of people and one is I believe here But I've not yet surrendered really my life fully to that. I was raised in the church. I know to go to church on easter It's the ritual. It's the religious thing But my life has not really been changed and I've not really surrendered it to jesus and today in Easter morning 2023 I'm ready to surrender my life completely today because I really believe that he's alive And I want it to radically transform and change my life and group three is this You're here and you say I've never ever Asked jesus christ to be my personal lord and savior But today I want to because I believe today. I want jesus to save me To forgive me.  I want to know that heaven's my home when I die I want to know that I'm right with god Today the bible is clear if we believe And we confess him as lord We will be saved So here's what we're gonna do with every head up and every eye open all across the room if you say today I want to receive jesus as my personal lord and savior or Today I want to go from believing Intellectually to really knowing that I'm right with god. I want it to transform my life I want to lead you in a prayer And I wouldn't I would normally say every head bowed and every eye closed But today we need to testify and witness to what we say we believe And so if that's you you say today, I want to receive jesus as my lord and savior I want to get right with god. I want to be included in this prayer right now on the count of three When you hear me say three you raise your hand and you hold it up and we're gonna pray together And hope is gonna find you one two Three just raise it right where you're at and hold it up all the way in the back all over the room Come on.  I see your hand. Yes. Yes. Hold it up. Don't put it down Come on all over the room. Don't put it down See your hand. Yes. Yes. Yes all the way in the back So You might be on the line on the fence It's time to step over the line and say yes to jesus if you not raise your hand You know, you need to right now do it and then we're gonna pray Thank you. God bless you. Come on. Let's thank the lord for that one more hand