The Empty Tomb, Mary's Witness, and Thomas' Doubts | April 5, 2026 Easter Sunday

First service, I'm not gonna lie.

Hey, actually you guys weren't

here in the first service.

Lemme just say this, I learned

something this morning.

I think we actually have more

people here now than the first

service, but it was pretty close.

That was kind of a pretty fun morning,

uh, celebrating a couple different

times together as the body of Christ.

But the first service people,

there's a smart white rock folk.

I figured it out.

It took me a minute, but you realize the

first group, I could only preach to a

certain point, then I had to stop right?

You guys came to the second you

got to sleep in, but I got no stop.

Like, I don't know how long

this is gonna go, right?

I can't get Well, I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

I'm gonna be good.

Uh, I think you heard it recently

somewhere, but uh, the Lord has risen.

He is risen.

He's risen indeed.

Right?

He is risen indeed man, we are

celebrating the risen savior, and I

dunno if you know this or not, but

resurrection, the resurrection of

Jesus Christ is kind of a big deal.

And I don't mean just a big deal like

that, it happened, but if you think

you're a Christian and the resurrection

is sort of just a thing that also

happened or maybe I don't really know,

you're missing out on something really

important here because our faith hinges,

Christianity hinges on a living savior.

If we're serving a dead dude whose

bones are in some tomb over in Egypt

or uh uh, Israel, we got a problem.

We're following some ideology, right?

Paul understood this over in

one Corinthians chapter 15.

He speaks to this idea about the

resurrection, and he says this, he says,

if Christ has not been raised, like if

the resurrection is just a hoax, if the

resurrection is just sort of a a thing,

eh, I don't know, maybe rose, maybe

whatever, if he didn't rise from the

dead, our preaching Paul says is useless.

You might be like, Andy, that's how I

feel every Sunday when you're talking.

Totally can appreciate

that useless preaching.

But what he means is

this, there's no power.

There's no purpose, there's no point.

We're just doing self-help.

Nonsense.

That's totally pointless.

And before you point the finger

at the poor preacher who's trying

to say stuff that doesn't matter.

Your faith.

Your faith is useless.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead.

I used to think a lot about, like

the cross was the big deal, right?

Jesus died on the cross for our sin.

He paid the pr and it is a

huge deal, but it's like two

sides of the same coin, right?

The, the resurrection is critical.

Paul says, our preaching

useless faith, useless.

Also our faith, futile meaning

absolutely no purpose to it whatsoever,

and we're still dead in our sins.

Jesus wasn't raised to life.

So if you think there was a good teacher

and a good rabbi who told some good

stuff over in E or in Israel, and then he

died and you're following some self-help

ideology, you're missing the power and the

truth and the whole point of the gospel.

Paul says this, and I love this man.

He says, if for only in this life

we have hope in Christ, then we of

all people are most to be pitied.

I love this right?

Here's what he's saying.

If this is all there is and

we just die, and that's it.

Out of all people on the world,

right, and the whole Earth Christians,

man, it sure stinks to be you.

You're abstaining from sexual

immorality and self-indulgence.

You're sacrificing for other people.

You're serving, you're loving, you're

loving your neighbor more than yourself.

You're denying yourself what?

What a bum deal you got duped into not

eating and drinking and marrying and doing

whatever you want, and having a great

time and partying and living the dream.

You might as well do all that stuff.

If Christ has not been

raised, you got tricked.

And it's all of all

people, man, Christians.

You got it.

The worst.

But Paul says, Christ has indeed

been raised from the dead.

The first fruits of those who've fallen

asleep to guarantee of an eternity for

those who had come to faith in him.

If we choose Jesus.

He says, Hey, death.

I've already been there.

I've already done that.

Follow me on the way, the

truth and not the death.

I am the life and that's where I lead.

Jesus is absolutely alive.

He lives, and we celebrate that.

We're gonna jump over to John

John 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20 and talk a little

bit about the resurrection and.

Austin, I was not going

to do it on purpose, bro.

Uh, but I forgot my

Bible back there again.

Would you mind running

it up here real quick?

Austin told me he changed all the

batteries 'cause he did not want

to be the dude who was on stage

during Easter, but I messed up.

Hey, big round applause for Austin.

All the hard work he is doing.

Thanks, Austin.

Hey, get your standing.

All right.

Thanks bro.

Appreciate you buddy.

Running our sound.

Look at this guy.

He's a, he's a really sound man.

You married there Hailey.

Good work.

Alright, let's jump

over to John chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

Did awesome.

Now here's what we're gonna do.

Uh, how many raise your hand if you

were here for Palm Sunday last week.

Lemme just see really,

really high the palm.

Good.

Good.

So last Sunday, we raised

our palms like that, right?

We kind of did this thing and I asked

how many points you wanted in the sermon.

Uh, how Go put those hands back up again.

Lemme just see one more time and

put your other hand up real quick.

Alright, you guys got two?

Good deal.

We're gonna do, uh, Palm

Sunday and Easter Special.

And you get five points from

Balm Sunday and five points from

the Gospel of John Chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

We're gonna talk about five things this

morning that I just wanna draw your

attention to on this Resurrection Sunday.

Now, those of you who were here last

service and are still sticking around

a few of you, I saw you go one, I

saw you go zero, and I saw you do

this, so I am not gonna acknowledge

any of it, just so you know.

Here we go.

If you turn over to John chapter 20,

John 20 · chapter mention

the Gospel of John, every gospel account

captures the resurrection of Jesus.

Matthew, mark, Luke, John, Matthew

kind of writes to the Jew, right?

Kind of lays out a lot of

prophecy and tie-ins there.

Luke's kinda right into a Greek audience.

He's kind of got that Dr.

Luke vibe, Mark's maybe just a

little bit earlier and a little bit

more simple kind of generalities.

And then John's got kind of his

own angle, which is fun, right?

And uh.

We're gonna spend a minute in John.

John chapter 20, verse one.

John 20 · chapter mention

If you look in your Bible, verse

one starts with the word early, but

if you go back just a little bit,

you'll see a big 20 there probably.

And above the 20, you'll probably

see something that says some

version of empty tomb, right?

So let me just cut right to

the chase right off the bat.

We're talking resurrection.

Let's talk empty tomb, missing body.

That's what we're gonna talk about first.

Chapter 20 verse one.

Early on the first day of the week,

while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene

went to the tomb and saw that the stone

had been removed from the entrance.

You know what I really love about this?

There's a lot of scholars who debate,

was it a Thursday execution a Friday?

What are all the dynamics?

Passover, extra Sabbath, windows,

all kinds of weird stuff.

Here's my opinion.

Jesus was put in the dirt Friday evening.

As it was getting dark and then

he was there all day Saturday,

his body, not his spirit.

And then Sunday morning while it

was still dark, the stone gets

rolled away and he walks out.

Is that because death had

victory over him for three days?

No.

Jesus had to fulfill the prophecy

of three days, but he was doing like

my version of three days, right.

A couple hours on Friday,

rock out Saturday and then.

Early as we can get out this thing

on Sunday morning, we're moving.

Why?

Because he is the king of life, not death,

and he triumphed over the grave and he

can stay dead any longer than he had to.

But Mary Magdalene goes and finds that

the stu, the, the stone is rolled away.

And so verse two, she comes running

to Simon Peter and to the other

disciple, the one Jesus loved and said.

Now I just think this is kind

of fun because the disciples

were real dudes, right?

They were friends, they were buddies,

they were guys, and John's gospel

account here where he's writing this,

he says, Mary ran and told Simon Peter

and the disciple that Jesus loved.

Wanna know who that is.

It's John, right?

This is like the best brother

moment in the history of scripture.

If I was writing a story about the time

that we went and got mom a Christmas

present, I would say from Adam and

Christie and the son that you love

the most merry Christmas, right?

This is such a brother moment from John.

Why is it?

I don't know, but I'm just saying

little flavor of John is pretty great.

So they have taken the

Lord outta the tomb.

I don't know where they've put him.

Mary says to Simon Peter and to John.

So Peter and the other disciple,

John started for the tomb.

And if you don't believe there's a

little brother jab in this, listen

to the next scripture, verse four.

Both were running, but the other

disciple, John, outran Peter,

and reached the tomb first.

I mean, come on.

Come on.

Right.

That's exactly how I would've wrote

it and how I would've remembered it.

And I'd have been like,

Adam, get your own gospel.

I'm writing this one and I

remember getting their first.

No, that's right.

Is it an important detail?

Sure was to John, I don't know

and has a little fun later on.

Alright, so enough of the brother action.

They reached the tomb first.

He bends over and looks at the strips of

women lying there, but does not go in.

Then Simon Peter, who, oh, look at that.

Maybe one more shot.

Oh, he was behind him.

Just now arriving, arrived and went

into the tomb and saw the strips

of linen lying there as far as the

burial cloth had been, uh, sorry.

As well as the burial cloth that

had been around Jesus' head.

The cloth around his head was

folded up by itself, separate from

the grave clothes, the linen, and

finally, the other disciple, John,

who'd reached the tomb first.

One more comment, also went inside.

He saw and believed.

They still didn't understand

from the scripture that Jesus

had to rise from the dead.

So they get to the tomb and they

discover a serious situation, right?

They look inside and there is no body.

Now listen, I love apologetics.

I love talking about resurrection,

proof, evidence, arguments.

I love all that stuff.

It's super fun.

But you can boil a lot of this down

to the simplicity of this dynamic.

That the Jews, the Romans

had a real problem.

They killed Jesus.

They put 'em in a tomb, but

nobody could produce a body.

Not ever.

You realize all you ever had to

do at any point in time to just

shut up the Christians and destroy

Christianity was just produce the body.

Just simply say, Hey, you

think Jesus rose from the dead?

Here's his body and that's it.

You know what?

They couldn't do it.

They couldn't do it.

There was no way for them to

produce the body of Jesus, right?

Because it wasn't missing.

Jesus took it with him when

he left the tomb, right?

He walked out with it, and for

years and for generations, people

have tried desperately to come

up with alternative ideas and

theories for what happened, right?

There's the wrong tomb theory.

One of my favorites because.

It's so anti how I feel

about women and directions.

My wife is a really good, um,

she's a really good driver.

Sometimes she would say to you that I'm

directionally challenged and it's fun to

listen to her, give directions to people,

uh, because I'm a knucklehead husband

and I take my shots when I can, right?

And then get in trouble.

But negative attention is still attention.

So anyways, um, the truth is this.

Women are great with directions,

they're great with details.

I would like to go on the record,

uh, especially on the internet

and say loud and clear that

I think women are wonderful.

They're great with directions, and I

am not one person who ascribes to the

wrong tomb theory, which is simply this.

There are some scholars who

attest that the women, they were

directionally challenged and they

got lost, and they went to the

wrong tomb on that Sunday morning.

And when they arrived at the

wrong tomb and realized there's

no body in here, they celebrated.

Woohoo.

Jesus.

He rose from the dead, which

is a dumb theory, right?

Because we know women

are better than that.

And also because all you had to do is be

like, Hey ladies, his body's right here.

We got it over here at this tomb.

You were at the wrong tomb, right?

They couldn't do it.

There's relocated body theories.

There's the swoon theory that

Jesus really wasn't dead.

Somehow he.

Just kinda shook off, you know, the

bleeding to death and being stabbed

up the side by a Roman soldier spear

and hanging on a cross for hours and

all the dehydration and suffering

and death, but really wasn't death.

Then he popped out and kicked open

to a stone tomb and or a door on

the tomb right there was stone and

fought off between 10 and 30 Roman

soldiers highly trained to kill you

and would die if they let you escape.

Okay?

And then he started his little revolution.

That doesn't make any sense.

American Medical Association in

the 1980s wrote a big article

about how ridiculous that was.

There's just no theory for what

happened to the body except for the

one recorded in scripture, which says,

when the earth shook and the soldiers

became like dead men, and the stone was

rolled away, and Jesus walked out, the

soldiers went and talked to the Jews.

I wonder why, right?

They didn't go tell the Romans

because they knew it'd be

executed right away probably.

But they went and talked to

the authorities like uh oh.

The Jewish authorities

said, okay, here's the deal.

We're gonna give you some

money and just tell everybody.

His disciples came and stole the body,

which is really weird because the

disciples were hiding in upper rooms,

scared, terrified, and scattered.

But either way, they started that

story and it was circulated throughout

the whole time of the gospel.

Writings just a bribe, but the

acknowledgement that there was no

body even by the Jews points to the

fact that we got a real problem.

Just produce the body and it's over.

They couldn't, you know why?

'cause Jesus is alive.

He's alive.

Now we also read about this burial

face cloth thing, if you heard that

Now, um, this is just a little artist

artistic drawing we have right here,

this folded kind of head cloth folded

up neatly next to the burial cloth.

Josiah's future, uh, in-laws told

me yesterday that their pastor

likes to say this is a really

important message because Jesus made

his bed before he left the tomb.

And you should make your bed.

I thought that's pretty clever.

Except this, in my opinion, that's

like, it's really just making

your pillow case, right, and you

leave the rest of it like it was.

So for me, that's what I'm

gonna start doing in my house.

Just make the pillow case,

leave everything else in

shambles, be like Jesus.

Uh, I'm not sure that's what that means.

Historically, there are some

accounts that are interesting.

We can't verify.

I'm a hundred percent.

Some of it may be legend, maybe

just tradition handed down.

But there is some tradition handed

down that says that when the master

at a Jewish table is finished with his

meal, he gets up, wads up his napkin,

throws it on his plate and leaves.

The servant comes in, recognizes

that the master's not coming back

and cleans up the play setting.

But if the master gets up, folds

his napkin, sets it behi beside

his plate, the servant comes in and

recognizes he's going to return.

Was Jesus saying I'm coming back?

I don't know.

I think so.

Eli, I'm with you, bro.

Yeah, I think he was, I think he

might've been making a real subtle

message like, Hey, this isn't the end.

Right?

I'm coming back and I will return

conquered death once folded up the napkin.

Just so y'all know, I'm coming

back again and next time in power

and authority, little blow mines.

Jesus is alive and he's gonna return.

And point number three.

Mary is a woman.

Thought you'd wanna know.

Here we go.

Let's jump into, uh, verse 10.

This is a dynamic gender sermon.

All of a sudden, then the disciples

went back to their homes, but Mary

Magdalene stood outside the tomb crying.

As she wept, she bent over and looked

into the tomb and saw two angels in white

seated where Jesus' body had been one

at the head and the other at the foot.

And the angels asked her

woman, why are you crying?

They have taken my Lord away.

She said, and I don't know

where they've put him at this.

She turned around and saw Jesus standing

there, but did not realize it was him.

I've always wondered about that,

but I think simply she was probably

looking into the grave or the tomb

and interacting with some angels.

There's a lot going on for Mary.

She senses someone's behind her.

She turns she notices, but she's

also maybe trying to be proper in

that day and age and not be crying

in front of this man and just doesn't

recognize or realize what's going on.

And Jesus, I'm sorry, thinking

that he was the gardener.

Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Jumps up.

15 woman.

Jesus says, why are you cry?

Oh, wait, that's important woman.

See, look at that.

Number three, Mary is a woman.

We got that finalized.

We're good.

Okay, woman.

He said, why are you crying?

Who is it that you're looking for?

Thinking?

He was the gardener.

She said, sir, if you've carried

him away, tell me where you

put him and I'll go get him.

And then Jesus says this, it's almost

like there's this dramatic pause.

And he just says, Mary.

And not in the way of like Mary, right,

but more like probably the way she had

heard the gentle voice of this teacher

and prophet who loved her for these

years, Mary, in that familiar voice.

And immediately she turns toward

him and cries out in Aramaic,

Rob and I, which means teacher

Jesus says, do not hold on to me.

For I've not yet returned to the father.

Go instead to my brothers and

tell them I'm returning to

my father and to your father.

To my God and your God.

Mary Magdalene went to the

disciples with the news.

I've seen the Lord and she told them

that he had said these things to her.

Now I'm having a little bit of fun

with this whole Mary is a woman thing,

but I wanna make sure you don't miss

it 'cause it's kind of a big deal.

Mary Magdalene in this first verse

of chapter 20, on the first day of

the week, while it's still dark, Mary

Magdalene goes to the tomb and she's

the first one to see that the tomb,

the stone is rolled away, right?

And she's interacting with

Jesus and she's a woman.

Now, this is like one of those really

dangerous, get myself in trouble

Sundays like twice to services, but

I would like to go on record and say

that I respect the opinion of a woman.

I just wanna say that really

clearly before I say anything else.

Women know stuff, women are

smart and Is that good enough?

No, I need to keep going.

Okay.

I just didn't know if I was getting Okay.

I can keep going.

Uh, in fact, you know what, if

you're husbands raise your hand

if you think women's opinion

matters, I just want to not be okay.

Okay.

Just making sure.

Okay.

Making sure.

Making sure.

Okay, so here's why

it's kind of a big deal.

Because, I don't know if you know

this or not, but in the day and age

that Jesus was, was crucified here in

the first century, a woman's opinion

was totally and completely worthless.

Totally worthless.

As a woman, you could witness a murder

and you could go to court and try to

testify, and it would mean nothing.

Zero, zero.

In the society there in the Jewish

culture at the day and age, and

in Palestine, a woman, it just

didn't matter what her opinion was.

It didn't matter what she said.

There was just nothing legally

binding or validating at all.

And this gospel says that Mary Magdalene,

not only a woman, but a former prostitute

who's gone from terrible darkness and

sin and has all this baggage in her past.

Just happens to be the first eyewitness

to the resurrection and to Jesus.

Now, what's the big deal?

Lemme tell you what the big deal is.

Many atheist historians who have

sought to discredit the account

of the resurrection have pointed

to this fact and said, wow, wow.

I did not expect that.

It validates the

authenticity of the story.

Here's what I mean.

If you're the disciples and you're making

up some story about a risen savior, and

you're trying to pretend like there's

this religion and this guy's really alive,

when in fact he's dead, you would never

under any circumstances tell anybody

that Mary Magdalene was a key witness or

the first witness to the resurrection.

You would say Peter saw Jesus.

John saw Jesus.

Some other guy, any other guy.

But the last possible witness

you would ever, ever present to

anybody would be a woman, and

especially a woman who's a former

prostitute, like, what are you doing?

You would never tell anybody that

unless it was just the truth and

then you just write the truth.

For a lot of atheist historians, they've

said that the fact that Mary is the first

eye witness to the resurrection of Jesus

Christ actually validates the story.

'cause you wouldn't just make that

up and you wouldn't say that you

would lose all credibility unless

of course, it's just the truth and

just telling everybody what happened.

Huh.

Interesting.

Interesting.

And I think it's worth noting.

Jesus was kind of a, a big fan

of validating the worth of women.

He made sure, and there were

women who were with him in his

ministry doing all kinds of stuff.

Women were not second

class citizens to Jesus.

In fact, Jesus helps us see

that male, female, Jew, Greek,

cian, slave free barbarian.

None of those things have any standing in.

Assessing our value and our worth

in the eyes of Jesus, men and women

created in God's image, eternal value.

For Mary, she's a woman, and her

culture says she's worthless,

but Jesus says she's priceless.

And I want you to hear and to know

that no matter what your history

is, what your backstory is, what

your struggle is, Jesus sees you.

As priceless and precious to him.

And he came and he died to offer

opportunity for you to be in

relationship with him, to walk with

him, to find worth and meaning and

purpose in that relationship with him.

And that's what Jesus was about back then.

And still today.

Point number four, uh,

disciples, weenies to warriors.

Here we go.

Verse 19.

On the evening of the first day of the

week, when the disciples were together

with the doors locked for the fear of

the Jews, Jesus came and stood among

them and said, peace be with you.

After this, he showed them his hands

and his side, and the disciples were

overjoyed that they saw the Lord.

Where were the disciples?

Well, they were together

with the doors locked, right?

They were hiding.

They were terrified.

The whole idea that Jesus' disciples

came and broke him out of, you know, took

out 30 Roman guards and started their

own fake religion is just so stupid.

They were scared to death.

They were hiding, right?

They were terrified.

They were weak.

They were afraid and confused,

and they were hiding, right?

But something happened.

They met Jesus.

Resurrected Jesus.

They knew that Jesus who taught,

who did miracles, they knew that

Jesus, they walked with him.

But these guys who were hiding and

scared and terrified, and confused and

lost and struggling, man, something

happened because they went from being

terrified to being bold, and they

stopped being people who were weak

and became people who were strong.

They weren't confused.

They were certain they knew what they saw.

They knew Jesus was alive.

They knew the truth, and they understood.

They stopped being afraid and became

fearless, and they stopped hiding.

They started shouting so much so that

it cost every one of them their lives,

including John, who was exiled to Pat

Most not because he was on a vacation.

He got sent there for his faith, right?

He dies on this desolate island

because it was faith in Jesus Christ.

All of the other disciples are

tortured and brutally murdered

for their faith in Jesus Christ.

Standing on this idea that there's

a resurrected savior who is alive

and it cost them their life.

And people have often pointed to that to

say, Hey man, it's pretty hard to argue

the disciples believed Jesus was alive.

Right?

And would we die for something we knew

was lie at that moment when it was time

to give up your life for something you

knew was a hoax, why would you die?

You just, you just wouldn't.

Nobody would.

The disciples had a radical transformation

in the way they lived from before the

crucifixion to after the resurrection.

And it's because they encountered Jesus

alive and well and on the move, and he

sent them in motion and they got busy.

In fact, so much so they got in

trouble with the same guys who got

Jesus arrested and murdered talking

before the Sanhedrin they say.

At the Sanhedrin, when they saw the

boldness of Peter and John and realized

they were ordinary unschooled men

and marveled at them, and they said,

huh, these men have been with Jesus.

See these guys who were scared and

timid and unsure and uncertain,

they had an encounter with Jesus

and it transformed them, and it got

to me kind of thinking about this

question, have you been with Jesus?

See when you're with Jesus, when you

meet Jesus, and I don't mean like in the

physical sense, you're high fiving and

hanging out, but I mean when the Holy

Spirit is present and Jesus's spirit

is present and engages with you in a

way that you understand Jesus is real.

This God stuff isn't some hokey deal,

but like Jesus is real and he becomes

someone that you follow and you chase

after with your life, like he changes us.

We go from being timid and afraid

about the world to being bold, right?

He changes us to be people who aren't

confused, but we, we walk in certainty,

even though, as you said, Sarah, the world

around us is pretty uncertain and crazy.

The goodness of God's not in question.

We trust him.

There's fearlessness and there ought

to be some shouting to say, Jesus is

the Lord and this is the way, right.

Jesus calls us to be

people who are different.

He doesn't just say be different.

When we encounter Jesus

for real, he changes us.

And if you've not been changed and

you look just like you always have and

the world looks a like it always has

and you're chasing all the things you

always have, I would just challenge

you like maybe, maybe you've just,

maybe you encountered church, maybe

you encountered like K Love on the

radio, but have you encountered Jesus?

And have you submitted to him as Lord

of your life and watched what he'll do

to transform and change you more like

him whole lot less like the world.

And you might have some doubts about that.

So did our good friend,

number five, doubting Thomas.

Doubting Thomas.

Can't miss this section without

throwing little props out to the

best nickname in the Bible, right?

What a great one.

Right?

It could have been the

Sons of Thunder, right?

That was a pretty cool one.

But Thomas got doubting Thomas.

But I gotta be honest, I'm kind of

thankful for doubting Thomas to be

honest, because, uh, we struggle

with doubt sometimes, don't we?

We struggle, we do.

And the enemy plagues that.

He, he messes with our doubt all the time.

Pokes at us, getting us to try to question

God, go back to the Garden of Eden, right?

Did God really say, is God really good?

I mean.

Where's those thoughts

come from all the time?

The enemy is constantly poking doubt.

Let's jump up to 24 here, verse 24.

Now, Thomas called DIDs.

One of the 12 was not with

the disciples when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told

him, we've seen the Lord.

What an interesting moment, right?

I don't know why he wasn't there.

Probably.

Just so we can read this

next section for us.

He wasn't there and he didn't see,

and I'm, I mean like, listen, I

believe my friends, but if I watch

somebody die and then my friend's

like he's alive, I talk to him, I'd

be like, what are you smoking, bro?

I'm not really sure

what's going on with that.

'cause I don't know that

I'm buying that story.

You know what I mean?

I just, I can't quite get there with you.

But, but he said to them, unless I

see the nail marks in his hand and

put my finger where the nails were.

And put my hand into his side.

I'm not gonna believe this is the

cool nature of Jesus, these disciples.

I mean, they, it cost him everything.

And Jesus was good.

Verse 26, a week later, his disciples

were in the house again, and Thomas was

with them this time, not gonna miss out.

And through the, though

the doors were locked.

Jesus came in and stood among

them and said, peace be with you.

And then he said to Thomas,

put your finger here.

See my hands.

Reach out your hand and

put it into my side.

Stop doubting and believe and

Thomas said, my Lord and my God.

And then Jesus said this,

because you have seen me.

You have believed,

makes sense, right?

Seeing his believing.

How many of you guys have you had

a chance to touch Jesus' hand and

his side in physical form would be

like, all right, that's good for me.

I believe I'll be good with that.

Jesus says, because you've seen Thomas,

you believe, but blessed are those

who have not seen and yet believe.

There's only two categories here.

Don't miss this.

We got the category.

One of the people who have seen Jesus.

People, I don't mean like

they had a vision, I don't

mean like they had a dream.

I don't mean like they had like

a awning in the clouds that

opened up and sort of like.

Sent him a message.

I mean, people who physically with their

eyeballs, saw flesh to flesh Jesus.

Those people believed

Jesus was real, right?

They saw it.

The New Testament

writers, they knew Jesus.

Paul talked about over 500 people who

appeared, or Jesus appeared to 500

people after the resurrection in one

time in this group, and so many other

times, over 40 days, people saw Jesus

and those people believed, you know why?

Because they saw Jesus.

But I am so thankful that for those of

us who kind of get a raw deal and are

stuck in category number two, the people

who have not seen and yet choose to

believe you know what Jesus says about us.

Blessed are you blessed, are

you who choose to believe

though you, you can't see.

Now, I don't know if that

means anything to you.

When Jesus says, Andy, blessed are you.

'cause you choose, even though

you can't see, to believe

that means something to me.

To hear Jesus say that over my life,

that he's proud of me, that he smiles

at my faith, knowing that I don't

get to see, but I choose belief.

That's a special thing and that's

a pretty special thing Jesus says.

To us.

Right?

And I think he says the same thing

that he said to Thomas to us today.

Stop doubting and believe.

Stop doubting and believe

there was no body.

Jesus walked out of the grave.

It's the biggest conspiracy

coverup by the Jews in the Romans,

but it was a bad coverup 'cause

they couldn't prove anything.

And it just got around as a big bribe

all over the, I mean, all over the area.

We had tons of priests and Jewish

leaders that came to faith in Jesus

Christ after the resurrection.

Tons of Romans, all of Rome

shifts over to Christianity.

Eventually, like Jesus changed the world.

He's not some ancient historical teacher

who died and is in a grave somewhere.

He is alive, he's living and

active, and he moves right,

and he calls us to have faith.

To stop doubting and to

put our trust in him.

In Romans 10, nine, it says, if

you confess with your mouth, Jesus

is Lord, and you believe in your

heart, God raised him from the dead.

One of my hopes in talking about the

resurrection all the time is like that.

You would believe Jesus

really rose from the dead.

What else happened?

If you don't think it's what happened?

What else happened?

We got more historical information

about Jesus than Alexander the Great.

We got more information or as

much about him as Caesar, right?

We got, I mean, Josh McDowell said,

he said, after studying this, Josh

McDowell was a lawyer right back in

the seventies and eighties who was an

atheist and he didn't wanna follow Christ.

But after researching, he got to a

place where he said, you know what?

It's easier in a court of law in the

United States of America to prove

that Jesus lived and existed in

Palestine than it is to prove that

Abraham Lincoln or George Washington

ever walked the face of the earth.

And he said, I would take that to court.

The historical evidence is everywhere,

but we gotta choose to believe

not just in our heads, but in our

heart, to choose to believe that God

really raised Jesus from the dead.

This is a contingency, right?

If we believe that if we confess with our

mouth Jesus is Lord, what does that mean?

Does that mean to acknowledge he exists?

Nope.

That's not confession.

The demons know he exists and

shudder exists, and shudder

Scripture says in James.

He's real, but to profess him as

Lord means I've surrendered my life

to him and I yield to his authority

in my life and I confess publicly

that he is the Lord of my life.

Not just some God that exists,

but he is my God and I follow him.

That's confession with our mouth.

And if we'll confess with our

mouth that Jesus is our Lord

and will genuinely believe.

In our heart that God genuinely,

for real, it's not just a story

from Sunday school, it's real.

God raised him from the dead.

The promise of God's word to

us is that you'll be saved.

That we have the opportunity

for salvation and eternal life.

And Jesus died as the

guarantee of what was to come.

Scripture says the first fruits

of those who have fallen asleep,

meaning he was number one, paved

the way through hell, death.

All of it to God and eternity, and

we get to follow that route by the

hand with him from death into life.

If we believe that God raised him

from the dead for real, and if

we've confessed him as our Lord and

Savior, that's the message of Easter.

Jesus is alive.

He's coming back.

You are priceless and precious.

He loves you so much that he

was willing to do all of this

to give you an opportunity.

He wants to change and transform your

life to make you into the greatest

version of what it means to be his son or

daughter, and to experience life in its

fullness, in the right priorities, right?

So maybe stop doubting and put

your faith and your hope and your

trust in Jesus Christ and chase

after eternal life with him.

Father, thank you for this

Easter morning to reflect on the

resurrection of what you've done.

Thank you for the truth of your word.

Thank you that you're alive,

and thank you that you offer

us life because of that truth.

God, I pray for folks here

today who maybe have a lot of

doubt and maybe some confusion.

I pray that the enemies lies and deception

would be wiped away in the God you would

speak truth and hope and life to them.

And God, for anybody who's here today.

Who doesn't know you as

the Lord of their life.

It doesn't take a big altar call.

It doesn't take a big extravagant moment.

It takes an act of humility to reach

out to you to say, I realize that

you, you really did rise from the

dead, and I want you to be the Lord

of my life and to be able to confess

our sin to him to be made clean.

What a gift, Jesus, that you've given us.

So, God, I pray for the courage to reach

out to you this Easter and find life.

Thank you for what you did

on the cross, but thank you.

That's not the end of the story.

Thank you that you trampled over death

holding the keys to death in Hades

forever, so that we have the opportunity

to walk in life and that Jesus is

worth celebrating on this Easter.

Thank you.

Free your love for us.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

Good stuff.

The Lord is risen.

He is risen.

He is risen indeed.

And

that's what it was the a pastor.

Tom, why don't you jump up here

and uh, let's bring that table

over real quick and we're gonna get

some blue fingers for Pastor Tom,

'cause we didn't think through this.

With enough Tong action here.

Here you go.

Let's take the blue one.

That one I got you.

Nope.

Nope.

I don't want any of your blue stuff.

Why, Don?

You got the stool.

Hey, wait, wait.

Come on up here.

We need some help with this blue stuff.

There we go.

Here we go, man.

All right.

Let's see.

Pastor Tom, if in fact these eggs

will tell us anything at all about

the true meaning of Easter, okay.

We prepped him.

We don't know if it

worked out well or not.

We'll give it a shot.

Oh yeah, let's get another one.

Oh, how'd you?

You did it to me again, bro.

My fingers are all blue.

There's one.

That's a nice one too.

Yeah.

Set that bowl down.

I'll give you one hold.

Oh, okay.

On three.

You guys ready?

We're gonna spin it like this.

Okay.

Don't anybody see?

Here we go.

1, 2, 3. Big reveal.

Woo.

Woo.

Look at that.

Wow.

Now, what's important about

this Pastor Tom, I notice is

this, this is a cross, right?

But there's something significant

about this cross, as well as

the cross right behind us.

There ain't nobody hanging on it, right?

'cause the cross is empty, just like

the grave, because Jesus came and

he died, but he didn't stay dead.

He rose again.

And we have the eggs to prove it.

Have a wonderful Easter.

You guys love you so much.

Happy Eve Resurrection Sunday.