Remembering His Words

you everybody for coming this morning. What a

beautiful day and what a beautiful crowd and

I always enjoy these sunrise services. It's a

beautiful thing what Jesus has done for us and

it's a beautiful thing that as followers of Jesus

that we come here today 2 ,000 plus years later

and the gospel of Jesus Christ is still going

strong. It will never be stopped. It will never

be stomped out. So long as there are people on

this earth, there will be followers of Jesus

Christ and the gospel will continue. And it will

continue because Jesus Christ has arisen. Let's

pray. God, we thank you this morning for just

these few moments to come and to gather together

today. We thank you for Jesus. And I pray, dear

Lord. that all honor and glory and praise this

morning, both here and worldwide, will be to

Jesus and to nothing else today, dear Lord. We

come here today to praise you, but we also come

here today with our worries and our pains and

our stresses and our heartaches and our sin,

dear Lord. But Jesus went to the cross to take

care of those things, and God, you raised him

victorious. So, God, we know that you can give

us victory today, and we come because we desperately

need your victory. We desperately need Jesus

Christ, both today and every day. So I pray that

in these few minutes today, dear Lord, that we

would remember the words of Jesus, that we would

remember the life of Jesus, that we would remember

the sacrifice of Jesus. And I ask these things

in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to be in Luke

24 for just a few moments this morning. Luke

Luke 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24. Jesus had just been brought in and

faced a mock trial. It wasn't a real trial. They

had already determined that he was guilty, those

who were passing judgment on him. He was beaten

and he was mocked and he was nailed to the cross.

His disciples who he had been with for... three

years or so teaching them and leading them and

instructing them as soon as trouble had arose

they took off and jesus was there alone to face

this most difficult moment of his life of course

jesus was prepared for this moment jesus had

had spent the night before in prayer seeking

god asking god that if there was any way that

there would be deliverance but It was not the

will of God for Jesus Christ to be delivered.

It was the will of God for Jesus Christ to give

his life on a cross so that every one of us this

morning can sit here with some hope to know that

our sins are forgiven. And after Jesus had suffered

and bled and died, he was placed in a tomb. Of

course, the Sabbath was approaching, so... They

didn't have time to do the things that they normally

would do as far as preparing a body for burial.

And Jesus was placed in a tomb, but his body

wasn't prepared. And there was a group of ladies

who had been there at the cross with him and

who were ready for the morning to come, that

they could gather up all the spices that were

needed, that they could go to the tomb and they

could wrap Jesus' body and wipe it down and make

it ready. for a proper burial. Now, Jesus had

been preaching and he had been teaching and he

had even said that this was going to take place.

He had even said that he was going to give his

life for everybody so that sins could be forgiven.

But in the moment, his disciples and these ladies,

perhaps they weren't thinking straight because

of the trauma and the loss that they had just

experienced. For whatever reason, it seems as

though that in the moment that all of those closest

to Jesus, had forgotten everything that he had

said. And the women that morning got up early,

like many of you, while it was still dark outside,

and they began to make their way to the tomb.

They thought they were going to find Jesus there,

but they were mistaken. And that's what we see

in this passage here. Luke chapter 24, verse

Luke 24:1

1. On the first day of the week, very early in

the morning, they came to the tomb bringing the

spices they had prepared. They found the stone

rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did

not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they

were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood

by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were

terrified and bowed down to the ground. Why are

you looking for the living among the dead, asked

the man. He is not here, but he has been resurrected.

Remember how he spoke to you when he was still

in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be betrayed

into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and

rise on the third day. And they remembered his

words. Isn't that interesting? And they remembered

his words. It's not that they didn't know his

words and they were probably still in their mind,

but for a moment in that time, in all that Jesus

had taught them, in all that they knew, in every

way that he had ministered to them, they'd kind

of forgot about Jesus' words. Perhaps it was

the sorrow that they were experiencing. Perhaps

it was the grief. And they were not alone. Because

when you read down a few verses further, the

apostles... really had the same response. When

word got back to them, you know what the apostles

said? They said, this is nonsense. Now think

about this for a moment. This group of women

that are in this story, these apostles that are

here hearing this news, these are the people

who were probably some of the closest people

to Jesus. They heard his teachings. They walked

with him. They saw his miracles. And even they

needed to be reminded of the truth of the gospel

and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in

that moment, even though they knew who Jesus

was, They needed to be reminded of who Jesus

was and what Jesus said and what had occurred.

And the angels told them, and it says, and they

remembered his words. And perhaps some of us

today are in that same boat. Maybe there are

some of us today and we know the words of Scripture

and we know the words of Jesus and we have walked

with Jesus and we have experienced His miracles.

And maybe today, this morning, as we sit here

and wait to see that sun peek over those trees,

we need to be reminded of truths we already know.

Maybe today we need to take a few moments and

we need to not worry about the things of the

world. and the stresses and the pains and the

sickness and the sorrow and the heartache and

the sin that so easily ensnares. But we need

to give those things to Jesus Christ. And we

need to be reminded that Jesus Christ, the Son

of God, gave his life on a cross so that we could

have hope today. You have hope today. I don't

know if you know that. Maybe you know it. Maybe

you just need to be reminded of it. Maybe you

know the power of Jesus today, and you just need

to be reminded. I want to remind you today so

that when you hear the words, when you think

about Jesus Christ, that you remember what he

has done for you, that you remember that he suffered

and bled and died for you, for me, not because

we deserve it. Jesus didn't look down here and

say, boy, those people that's going to be an

enterprise in 2025, they're pretty good. Now,

we might think that. But we're really not that

good. We're wicked and rotten and sinful people.

And we'd be appalled at each other if we knew

the things that we think and the things that

we do. And yet Jesus Christ, knowing every one

of those things, said, I will suffer and bleed

and die for you. And so today I tell you that

Jesus loves you. Nobody else in the world may

love you. It may not feel like anybody else in

the world loves you. It may not even feel like

God loves you. But if you ever question the love

of God, you just need to turn to the Scriptures

and read of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ because

there is no greater love than this, that a man

would lay down his life for his friends. Today

we can be friends of God. Today we can be children

of God. Today we can be brothers and sisters

in Christ. If we would just accept him and reach

out like the woman who had faith to touch the

hem of his garment to say, Lord Jesus, I'm reaching

out with all that I have so that I can touch

you, so that I can experience you, so that I

can be healed by you. And Jesus said to her,

your faith has made you well. And so it is for

us today. It is our faith that will save us.

Hopefully it is our faith in Jesus Christ that

has brought each one of us here this morning.

So we come here today to rejoice. We come here

today to celebrate, to know that death doesn't

have the final say, to know that there is hope

for us, to know that we are loved, to know that

God cares for us. The women had to be reminded

in the moment they had forgotten about Jesus.

And maybe in this moment in your life, there's

a part of you that has forgotten about Jesus.

But today, let us be reminded and let us remember.

Perhaps there are some today who have the same

response as the disciples. Maybe you don't know

who Jesus is. Maybe you've heard about him. Maybe

you know about him, but maybe you don't know

him. Maybe you say when you hear these words,

it's nonsense. The disciples didn't say that

in the sense that they didn't believe or didn't

trust Jesus. It's a lot to wrap your head around

when you hear that someone has been raised from

the dead. But perhaps there are some here today

and you hear these words and you hear the story

of Jesus and maybe you say that they're nonsense.

Well, today I would encourage you to have the

response of Peter because when all of the rest

of the disciples said it was nonsense, Peter...

got up and ran to the tomb the scripture says

peter wanted to see for himself he wanted to

see that jesus was risen and i encourage you

today to run to jesus maybe you don't know jesus

but maybe you question jesus maybe you wonder

about jesus run to the words of scripture run

to jesus christ seek him look for him and look

for the evidence and the proof that is so clearly

before us throughout history and the words of

scripture that tell us when jesus Christ was

placed in that tomb. He did not remain in that

tomb. And the Word of God is true. And this is

the only truth we can depend on in this world,

is the Word of God. So today, let us have the

response of Peter. Let us be reminded about Jesus.

And even in our doubt, even in our excitement,

even in our worries, let us seek Jesus and let

us come to the same realization and the same

truth that this group came to that morning. And

Jesus Christ is alive. And because he is alive,

we sit here today and we rejoice. Let's pray.

God, we come to you. We just thank you. We thank

you for the freedom that we have in this country

to just gather here freely on this beautiful

morning with the breeze blowing, dear Lord. We

just thank you for your love and your grace and

your mercy. We thank you for Jesus Christ. And

I pray, dear Lord, this morning that we remember

the words of Jesus, that we remember the sacrifice

of Jesus. God, I pray that you would help us

to just call out to you today, to seek you, to

praise you. Dear Lord, maybe there are some here

that they don't know you. They know about Jesus,

but maybe they've never trusted him. I pray this

morning, dear Lord, that they would confess their

sins, that they would repent. that they would

ask for forgiveness and that they would put their

faith in Jesus Christ. God, I pray that if there

are some here today that are yours, that you

help us to remember your love, that you help

us to remember your words, dear Lord. Sometimes

we get so busy and so caught up in the things

of the world and our worries and our sin, dear

Lord, that we just lose sight of you. But I pray

today. that you would help us to refocus. I pray

today that we give our sins to you, that we give

our worries to you. I pray today that we remember

you, dear Lord, that we remember the power of

your words and that we remember that Jesus Christ

arose, no matter how bad our life may be. It

may not get better tomorrow or the next day,

but God, no matter how bad it may be, We have

Jesus Christ to walk beside us. We have Jesus

Christ to be our strength. And we have Jesus

Christ to be our hope. And God, we praise you

for that today. And I ask these things in Jesus'

name. Amen.