Messiah - Part 3 - Easter 2025

we'll be in uh Matthew chapter 28 and

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

also John chapter 20 if you'd like to

John 20 · chapter mention

join me there uh welcome to Easter at

the Creek excited that you made this

part of your uh your worship experience

and I think it's really cool that this

morning we get to gather together with

literally two billion two billion other

Christians on this planet who are

celebrating one single reality and that

is the fact that Jesus defeated death

jesus defeated death now before Easter

death was the most final thing that any

person could ever face but because of

Jesus resurrection we get to proclaim

victory even in death we get to ask

death we get to say "Hey death where is

your sting?" Now now here's the thing

the resurrection isn't just something

that Jesus experienced it's literally

who he is he says of himself in John 11

"I am the resurrection and the life the

one who believes in me even if he dies

will live." The Apostle Peter said

"Blessed be the God and father of our

Lord Jesus Christ." Because of his great

mercy he has given us new birth into a

living hope the same living hope that we

just sang about he's given us this

living hope through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead the Apostle

Paul says "Therefore we were buried with

him into a baptism of death in order

that just as Christ was raised from the

dead by the glory of the Father so we

too may walk in a newness of life."

Friends don't get it twisted easter

doesn't mean that there won't be any

more bad days but it does mean that

Jesus has the final say on everything

jesus is the firstborn of all creation

and he is the bright and morning star he

is the lily of the valley he is the

chief cornerstone he is the bread of

life he is the lion of the tribe of

Judah he is the seed of Abraham he is

the son of man he is the great I am

jesus is the

undeniable Messiah

so what that means is for you personally

for every hurt every question every

disappointment every unmet expectation

Jesus answers your suffering with a

bloody cross and an empty

tomb we worship an undeniable Messiah he

is not an abstract theory he is the

reality of what is hoped for he is the

proof of what is not seen christianity

is not a religion or a philosophy

christianity is all about a man who died

on a cross on a Friday and by the power

of God on Sunday morning he had

resurrected from the dead and the same

spirit that raised Jesus from the dead

now lives in you so so here's the Easter

message nothing is impossible for them

who believe and friends we are them

let's pray god thank you for your word i

pray that it would ring out from this

church i pray that not only this church

but every church in our community would

have a revival this morning that your

spirit would speak to each and every one

of us that we would figure out what you

want for us to do who you want us to be

and that you would shape us into the

image of Jesus and God if there is

anyone out there in this crowd or

watching online that has a distance

between you and them has a stone that's

been rolled and between their

relationship with you I pray that today

you would use the power of the Holy

Spirit and just flick that stone away so

they can see once and for all how much

you love them and how much you want a

relationship with them we ask these

things in Jesus' name amen

join me in Matthew chapter 28 verse

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

one says after the Sabbath as the first

day of the week was dawning Mary

Magdalene and the other Mary went to

view the tomb so we know the two Marys

were there we learn in another gospel

that Solom was there as well they made

their way to the tomb to pay their

respects to the dead and gone Jesus

Christ now even though Jesus told them

that he would raise from the dead he

told them through parables he told them

through analogies he told them through

direct conversation "Hey I'm going to

die but I'm coming back from the dead."

But they had never experienced or even

thought of anything like that before and

so through the trauma and their life

experiences they were unable to

synthesize these two realities so the

Marys came to the tomb expecting to to

grieve and weep but the script was

flipped so who's the day the day is

first of all Mary Magdalene mary

Magdalene is a woman that we learn in

Luke chapter 8 when she met Jesus seven

Luke 8 · chapter mention

demons jumped out of her seven demons

jumped out of her like you think your

morning was bad they they ran out of

your favorite coffee at Waw Wa seven

demons jumped out of this woman when she

met Jesus and so I'm so glad that she

was the first one at the tomb because

she represents a group of people she

represents all the broken imperfect and

abused people of the world jesus

resurrected so people like Mary

Magdalene could have their mind freed

could have their hearts renewed could

have the bondage of their sin and their

addiction broken when Jesus came out of

that tomb Mary Magdalene came out with

him romans 6:4 says "Just as Christ was

Romans 6:4

raised from the dead by the glory of the

father we too may walk in the newness of

life." Jesus has the power to bring the

broken and perfect and abused to a new

life because his resurrection was not

just an event it was an invitation an

invitation to walk in new life with

Jesus an invitation to break the cycle

of suffering that some of you have been

under your whole lives then there was

another Mary the other Mary as we know

from history was the mother of James the

disciple we don't know anything else

about her because her testimony was not

movie worthy but I love that she's there

too because she also represents a group

of people she represents the people who

are overlooked the people who are quiet

and meek the normal people of the world

jesus resurrected so people like Mary

the mother of James could have a a new

life and a new voice so they could be

heard and appreciated for who God made

them to be and so friends today you

could be a tourist you could go to see

the empty tomb but it's just there to be

a testimony to the new life that Jesus

provides for the most broken imperfect

abused marginalized overlooked normal

people on earth so they're there at the

tomb and they're expecting to weep and

cry and grieve but something else

happens in verse two says there was a

violent earthquake because an angel of

the Lord descended from heaven and

approached the tomb he rolled back the

stone and was sitting on it there was a

violent earthquake this is common place

in scripture when a a movement of God

occurs this happened when Jesus was

crucified there was an earthquake when

Jesus rose from the dead there was an

earthquake when Isaiah met with the Lord

in the temple there was an earthquake

when Paul and Silas were breaking out of

the Philippian jail by singing praise

songs there was an earthquake when the

the Ten Commandments were given to Moses

on the top of Mount Si there was an

earthquake when God does something in

your life the net result is a

shakeup because God needs to shake off

the things that keep you from him but

don't think of this shakeup as something

that is like punishment it's actually

preparation for what God is doing under

the tectonic plates of your soul so

don't fear the shakeup prepare for it

like one of those doomsday preppers man

have your go bag by the door and when

things go bad when the shakeup happens

you can grab the bag and you can run to

the the strong tower that is Jesus

Christ your Lord jesus talks in the

sermon on the mount about two people

this is closing statements he gives you

a choice he says "You can be like the

wise man that build his house on the

rock." Meaning that you can be like the

wise man and build your life around the

teachings that you just heard in the

sermon that Jesus preached or you can be

like the foolish man and build your

house on the sand but then he says

something prophetic he says the storms

will come and the person that built

their life on the teachings of Jesus

Christ that built their life on the rock

they will be unshaken

see the Lord is a strong tower and he

wants you to run to him to seek shelter

in him to be saved from the storm the

unshakable fact is this jesus was born

he existed before that but he was born

of a virgin in Bethlehem he lived a

perfect and sinless life he died on the

cross for your sin he rose from the dead

he ascended back into heaven and one day

friends he's coming back for all that

that belongs to him

i visited my dad last week and he loves

to watch the news i don't love to watch

the news because it bums me out but he

loves to watch the news so we watch the

news and it seemed like every story on

the news was about a shaking shaky

markets and shaky nations and and shaky

communities like all this shaking is

taking place and I was kind of excited

uh after watching that because my heart

was not as broken as it usually is

because I realized that my hope is not

based on anything other than the strong

tower named Jesus whose voice calms the

storms whose voice made the sun stand

still whose voice broke light into the

darkness like my hope is not based on

anything earthly i don't need for the

stuff to change on the news in order for

me to have hope because my hope is

anchored in the heavenly realms with

Jesus so when the world starts shaking

what you need to do is run to Jesus

because he says all who call on the name

of the Lord will be

saved that all is all inclusive by the

way so there's an earthquake the angel

of the Lord has descended from heaven

and he purged the tomb rolled back the

stone and was sitting on it his

appearance was like lightning and his

clothing was as white as snow and the

guards were so shaken by the fear of him

that they became like dead men see the

Romans are terrified of the idea that

the disciples would come and steal

Jesus' body because they knew that Jesus

had talk about talked about coming back

from the dead so they wanted to make

sure that the disciples had no access to

the body of Jesus so history tells us

that up to 30 centurions were stationed

around the tomb we're also told that

that stone that they put in front of the

tomb was no ordinary stone this stone

weighed 4,000 pounds it also had the

symbol of the Roman government on it

also the symbol of Pontius Pilate with

these two big ropes that went around it

to fasten the symbol in the front so

anybody that came near the tomb would

see that this is government property

this this belongs to

Rome but on Easter Sunday an angel came

down the soldiers fall and the seal is

broken and that stone stone which

symbolized a barrier to entry is now a

seat for the angel that that stone that

symbolized a barrier to entry is now uh

it's a place it's a stage where the

angel can preach the very first

postresurrection sermon and it's as if

the angel is saying that this stone

doesn't get to define your narrative

anymore it that stone he's saying this

stone does not get to block your access

to Jesus your idol your sin your trauma

your guilt your shame your addiction

anything that would block you from Jesus

does not get to define your narrative

anymore it's not a part of your story

because Jesus through the power of his

Holy Spirit has come down symbolically

and flipped away that stone moved it out

of the way so you have direct access to

the undeniable Messiah friends I'm

convinced this morning that if Jesus

could do that 2,000 years ago he can

still do it

today so in verse 5 the angel told the

women "Don't be afraid because I know

you were looking for Jesus who is

crucified he is not here for he has

risen just as he said come and see the

place where he lay." I love that come

and see the place where he lay imagine

you're one of the soldiers the

centurions and you got to go back to

Pontius Pilate and tell them about this

angel that came down like a lightning

bolt from heaven and how that that stone

that symbolized all of Roman super all

of Rome's superiority all of their power

how it was just flipped out of the way

see in that moment what they'd be

communicating with Pontious Pilot is the

fact that there is a new king of kings

there's a new Lord of Lords there is a

man who is not under the control of Rome

the stone was not get this the stone was

not rolled away so Jesus could get out

jesus can walk through walls we know

that from scripture he did not need an

angel to open the door for him so what

is he teaching us by rolling the stone

away he's teaching us that we need to

come and put our head inside that tomb

and see that it is empty it wasn't for

him it was for us it was for the Marys

that came to the tomb so they could look

see they came and they were anticipating

a dead Jesus now friends I understand

how Easter works i know that some of you

are here and some of you are watching

online and the only reason you're here

and the only reason you're watching

online is because mom or grandma or

grandpa or somebody told you that you

had to be in church on Easter Sunday so

first of all let me say I'm so glad

you're here thank you for coming but

also I get it i get it i understand that

some of you are not here looking for

Jesus you're just here out of obligation

and so I love this scripture because

this is Jesus saying to you "Hey pop

your head in the tomb and check it out."

That's what this whole sermon series has

been about i want you to be able to look

in the tomb and see that Jesus really is

the person that he claimed to be put

your head inside the tomb and see that

Jesus is alive he's made the invisible

kingdom visible he is the proof of what

is hoped for the reality of what is not

seen it's all we talked about in last

week's message

this is an opportunity for you to deal

with Jesus because friends you got to

deal with Jesus he is undeniably the

person that he claimed to be there's

historical evidence there's biblical

evidence there's evidence in creation

that points to God and points to Jesus

no single person has changed our world

more than Jesus Christ so we are all

faced with this singular reality we have

to do something with Jesus we either put

him in a box on the shelf and pretend

he's not real put him back in the tomb

and roll the stone in front or we put

our head in that tomb and see hey Jesus

is alive we can't explain the

resurrection scientifically we have no

way of explaining the resurrection but

that resurrection can explain us we are

people who have come alive by virtue of

what Jesus did for us now the story

continues in the gospel of John in John

John 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20 in John chapter

John 20:12

20 verse

12 but Mary stood outside the tomb and

she was still

crying and she was crying as she was

crying she stooped to look into the tomb

some of you you need to do that this

morning look into the tomb look into

this conversation about

Jesus what did she see well she saw two

angels in white sitting where Jesus'

body had been lying one at the head and

one at the feet and they said to

her,"Woman why are you crying?" And she

said "Because they've taken away my Lord

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

Russell Johnson says "Jesus invites us

to stare at what is no longer there to

remind us of what has been there the

entire

time what I thought was so sustainable

what I thought was so concrete what I

thought was so important to me and my

family what I thought we should be

building our lives upon I found out is

simply dust."

But there was something that I was

missing the thing that I was missing was

right there in front of me the whole

time but I chose not to see it i chose

not to see the presence of the

resurrected Jesus calling out to me so

when that angel says "Mary why are you

crying?" She's like "Everything was

great last Sunday." They were shouting

"Hosana hosana." They wanted to make him

king of kings they they wanted to to

make him the king now everything is

different why are you crying she says

they took Jesus away they took Jesus

away now this is not Mary's thought

thought but it could be yours perhaps

this morning you're blaming a they for

the distance you feel between yourself

and

Jesus you're blaming a they for stealing

your joy you're blaming a they for uh

for not fulfilling their obligations for

not sticking to their promises you're

blaming a they for your lack of

relationship with Jesus i would

encourage you this morning to not let

the they control your narrative because

they should not have that much power

over you because they did not die on a

cross for your sin and they did not come

back from the dead so therefore they do

not have power over you to determine

your relationship with Jesus so stop

blaming the they come back to life that

grief of your past is blinding you from

the gift of your present so take some

time and look into the tomb and see that

he is not there because he's actually

right here

verse 14 it says having said this she

turned around and she saw Jesus standing

there but she didn't know it was Jesus

woman a term of endearment Jesus said to

her why are you crying who is it that

you are seeking supposing he was the

gardener she replied sir if you've

carried him away tell me where you've

put him and I will take him away Jesus

said to her Mary and turning around she

said to him in Aramaic Raboni which

means teacher remember Jesus was a

teacher he was a rabbi we talked about

that last week so her teacher is now

teaching her again mary's eyes were open

when Jesus calls her by name she

realizes that in that moment that Jesus

had conquered death and the grave and

that he's been raised to a new life and

she also realizes in that moment that

because Jesus is alive she can be alive

she stopped looking for the living among

the

dead jesus is not found in a tomb he's

found in a garden jesus is the gardener

he's sewing seeds for your redemption

he's planting flowers for your

provision for Mary the tomb was just a

pit stop on her way to a new life so

perhaps today you need to get out of the

grave

maybe today you've you've looked into

Jesus and you see hey this this is real

this really h he's an undeniable

historical figure that did all the

things that that that the Bible says

that he did there's no doubt about it it

takes more faith to believe in something

else than it does to believe in the

resurrected Jesus so you've looked into

the tomb but get you don't have to live

there

the tomb can be your pit stop on the way

to the garden on your way to a new life

so if you would just close your eyes for

a moment we do this so you can

focus you see some of you you

maybe are here out of obligation maybe

you're you're here and you're worshiping

as if Jesus is still dead and the tomb

is still closed and the stone is between

you and the

Lord i want you to see this morning that

Jesus loved you enough to remove that

stone from the

equation that tomb is empty so that he

could come and be with you so whatever

that stone is for you maybe it's an

addiction maybe it's pridefulness maybe

it's a hurt a trauma that goes

back many many years whatever that stone

is that is keeping you from the joy of

having new life in Jesus I just pray

this morning that you would see that

that stone has been rolled away jesus

resurrection was not just an event it

was an invitation an invitation for you

to first of all put your head in the

tomb and see hey Jesus is alive and then

from there you get to walk into the

garden and receive new life as Jesus

plants his holy spirit in you a spirit

that produces flowers that produces

fruit and if that's what you want this

morning if you want to leave the tomb

behind and move into the garden and

receive the new life all you have to do

is pray a prayer that's something like

this just say

"Jesus I know I'm a

sinner and I believe you're a

savior i believe you're God's son i

believe you lived a perfect life i

believe you died on the cross for my sin

and I believe you rose from the

dead so Father give

me give me new life through Jesus

plant something

good within

me meet me in the

garden if that's you today I just want

you to to hear his voice the same way

Mary heard the voice in the garden i

want you to to hear his voice calling

you by name calling you to

salvation and I want you to realize that

if you accepted that call that Jesus has

written your name on the palm of his

hand he has engraved it on the palm of

his hand and there is nothing that can

ever separate you from the love of God

it's in Jesus name I pray amen