The Empty Grave

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Today we're finishing up a couple of weeks ago.

I said I wanted to always around Easter and Christmas.

I love preaching on Easter and I love preaching on Christmas always wherever I am in a series.

And we had just kind of finished up our series on Christianity and your walk with God and Christianity and your witness in your community.

And so next week, starting our new series, we'll be looking at the great challenge to pray.

We're going into about six to eight weeks of a series on nothing but prayer.

We're asking God to turn this church into a church of prayer, a house of prayer.

Can I get an amen?

And Miss Erica back there, wave at me, Erica.

She's she and I we've talked a good bit yesterday.

One of her gifts is God's just made her an intercessor and praying.

And she's going to help.

I said, Erica, I want you and Tim to help us learn to be a church that's, hey, will literally be called a house of prayer.

Can I get an amen?

Folks, I'm telling you, we start praying, God starts moving.

It's the power room.

It really is.

So we're looking forward to that series starting next Sunday, Matthew chapter 6, The Lord's Prayer.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

It's going to be awesome.

It really is.

And also, we're starting our Bible study, our Sunday school next week, I think, starts.

You started today.

Okay, that's all right.

But it'll be starting next week with Warren Wearsby on the Lord's Prayer, also.

So it's going to be awesome.

In Matthew chapter 28, last week we looked at Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

She was the first one to come to the tomb.

She was the first one to peep her head in and see that Jesus' body was no longer in the grave.

The first one.

And we talked about that, the victory of the cross two weeks ago.

We talked about that the scars, what?

The scars, that's it.

The scars mean everything.

And then last week we looked at Mary Magdalene, how she took her desolation and she turned it into jubilation.

And what truth God taught us.

And today we want to title the message, The Tomb is Empty.

And in Matthew 28, we see in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.

His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment was white as snow.

And for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men.

I've got a little echo, Bench.

Okay.

And the angel answered and said unto the woman, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

Now, in Luke, the same account, Luke 24, verse 5, the angel says, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

Luke 24:5

For he is not here, for he is risen, as he said.

Come see the place where the Lord lay.

Four hundred years before Christ's birth, the Greek philosopher Socrates lay dying from poison.

And he was considered the wisest teacher ever to live during that time in the world.

But when his friends ask him this powerful question, a question that we all ask, and here's the question, shall we live again?

Shall we live again?

He could only answer, I hope so.

He could only answer, I hope so.

But no man can know.

Now that's what Socrates said.

He said, I'm not, hey, I hope we live again, but no man can know.

Well, in Job chapter 14, verse 14, another man asks that same question.

Job 14:14

And he said, If a man dies, shall he live again?

And I love what he says next.

In another translation of the New Living Testament, here's what he says.

Can the dead live again?

If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await for my death.

Wow.

I would eagerly await for my death.

Ladies and gentlemen, what truth Job was talking about.

See, it's an age old question.

In fact, that song I was, I said, that's perfect with the verse.

It's an age old question.

If a man dies, shall he live again?

It haunts many people all the through their lives.

When I die, am I going to live again?

In fact, look at what Hebrews 2.15.

I think we have the verses there.

Hebrews 2.15 says, and it's powerful.

Here's what it says those who through fear of death were all their life, all their lifetime in what?

Bondage.

In other words, they were slaves to the fear of dying.

Wow.

That's exactly what the song just said.

That we don't have to be in fear of dying.

We don't have to be in fear of this next life.

Is there life after death without hesitation, because of Easter Sunday morning, ladies and gentlemen, we can declare that the tomb is empty and that the throne is filled and that Jesus lives.

Amen.

Amen.

Absolutely.

And today we're going to prove that.

Many are afraid that death will catch up with them.

Well, I got news for you.

That's true.

Death is going to catch up with every one of us if the rapture doesn't take place.

Now I'm voting for the rapture.

Amen.

I'm voting for the rapture.

But he says, whereas it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.

That's what it says.

Hebrews 9 27.

It says in James 4.14, whereas you know not what shall be on tomorrow, what is your life?

Even a vapor that appears for a little time, then vanishes away.

It says in Proverbs 27:1, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Proverbs 27:1

Okay?

Death is going to catch us all if the rapture doesn't come first.

As it is appointed unto man wants to die, and after this, the judgment.

Hey, Ecclesiastes 3:1, there's a time to be born and what?

Ecclesiastes 3:1

A time to die.

Hey, your days have been numbered.

So we know that.

So without some assurance of life after death, death becomes a very terrifying proposition.

Would you not agree?

I mean, if this is all we have, then Paul says, then our life is most miserable.

And that is so true.

The doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central cornerstone of all our faith.

If we do not have, hey, listen, if we don't have the resurrection, the crucifixion was for naught.

Amen.

If we do not have the resurrection, this Bible is a lie.

If we do not have the resurrection, grace is not real.

But we do.

Thank God we do.

Christ is, hey, if Christ is not raised, listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 14.

Paul told the believers at Corinth, he said, our preaching is vain, our faith is without foundation, our faith is without basis.

Hey, the writers of the scriptures lied, and faith, hey, hey, faith by grace through Christ and the deliverance of sin is naught.

Naught.

Worthless.

Useless.

There's no hope after death.

In fact, I love what one writer said.

Hey, the only thing, hey, life after death is just wishful thinking if there's no resurrection.

But Christ is risen.

Can I get an amen?

But Christ is risen.

And Easter is true.

It really is.

And we see that the Bible teaches that the Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish prophet that was predicted as the Messiah, did come.

He was, hey, he was what?

Tried and convicted of a political crime, then crucified, hey, and then put in a tomb.

But on that early, I love it, Easter morning, sunrise morning, when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, he had come up out of the grave, and now he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for me and you.

And with that said, we have so much proof of this.

But so many people have tried to crush Christianity.

But no one has succeeded.

And you know how they've tried to crush Christianity?

By saying and disproving the resurrection.

Frank Morris, great lawyer, decided he was going to disprove the resurrection.

Josh McDowell, who's a good friend of mine, preached with him several times when I was at Liberty University and brought him in, and we preached at youth camps together.

Many times he wrote a book, and if you've never read it, you ought to read it Evidence Demands a Verdict.

But he and John Morrison, both lawyers, tried, went, in fact, uh, Josh McDowell spent four years at the Hebrew University in Israel trying to disprove the resurrection.

And he came to the conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, there was more historical facts, there was more geological proof of the resurrection than there's proof to believe that there was no resurrection.

Undisputed proof.

Facts that prove the resurrection.

Now, with that said, and I'm excited about this, if we were to predict, and I and I love this, I really do.

I really do.

Because, again, Josh McDowell made this profound statement.

I never get what Josh told me.

We were one night sitting in the cafeteria drinking coffee and talking about the resurrection.

I said, Josh, when did you come to the conclusion that you knew Jesus had raised himself from the dead?

He said, what really got me was three things.

Three things.

Are you ready?

That's what you're gonna get this morning.

Three things.

Number one, he said, here's what got me the predictions of the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4, turn there.

Or it should be up on the screen for you.

1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4.

Powerful, powerful right here.

Listen to what it says.

Paul says, For I delivered to you first of all that which I also receive, that Christ died for sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried.

And now watch, he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

One of the most amazing yet most neglected, and this is what Josh said, factors of Easter is this dynamic truth right here, that Jesus himself predicted what would happen long before it actually happened.

Jesus predicted what would happen.

He predicted his death, he predicted his crucifixion, he predicted, hey, his resurrection.

Old Testament prophets, when you study the Old Testament over and over again, the Old Testament prophets predicted Jesus' death, the Messiah, and his resurrection.

And now Jesus himself predicts his death and his resurrection.

And I got to thinking about that.

In fact, uh, it's awesome.

Look at what he says in Matthew 16, 21.

From the time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes.

Now watch, and be killed and be raised.

There it is again, the third day.

And then in the next chapter, right after the transfiguration, in Matthew chapter 7, verse 17, excuse me, verse 9, look at what he says.

Matthew 7:17

Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision.

Go tell the vision to in fact he said, Don't tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.

Wow, don't go say anything till you know that I'm risen from the dead.

And then when you go to verse 22 in that same chapter, he says, the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.

Now he tells them, hey, he's gonna rise from the dead.

He says, Don't tell anyone, hey, till I do.

And then he says, but now listen, I, the Son of Man, me, Jesus, is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill me.

And the third day, though, I will be raised up.

Whoa! Now, the verse goes on.

Now watch it in the end of verse 23, and it says that look at this.

The disciples were exceedingly sorrowful.

Man, they missed it.

Hey, hey, Jesus just said, look, I'm gonna be crucified, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna be put in a tomb, but guess what?

On third day, I'm coming up, I'm gonna rise from the dead.

Now, in their hearts and minds, they didn't hear that.

You know why?

They didn't believe it.

How would you like if I said to you, are you ready?

Hey, hey, I'm gonna be crucified today, but don't worry, I'm gonna be killed today.

They're gonna bury me, but don't worry.

Three days from now I'm coming up out of the grave.

You know what you'd do?

You'd laugh at me.

You'd say, hey, he's gone crazy.

Can't be done.

It just went right over the head.

I mean, again and again he says, I'm gonna be crucified, I'm gonna be buried, but I'm gonna raise from the dead.

I mean, there it is, right there, the predictions.

Oh, what's this?

Matthew chapter 20, verse 18 and 19.

Matthew 20:18

Jesus said, Behold, we're going up to Jerusalem.

Now he's talking to disciples again.

He says, We're gonna go up to Jerusalem.

The Son of Man will be betrayed.

That's what he said to the chief priests and scribes.

And notice what he says.

They will condemn him to death, and watch this.

They will deliver him then to the Gentiles, Caiphus and the scribes, to crucify.

Well, first of all, he says to mock, to scourge, and then crucify.

And then third day, look, look, what does it say?

He will rise again.

How many times do I just need to slap it?

Hey, did you hear me?

Did you hear me?

Uh-oh.

I mean, I I look at this.

Wait, wait, wait.

Let me give you some more proof.

Look at the last supper.

Remember, right before he goes to the garden and before he's arrested, and all the trials start taking place.

Look at what he tells them.

Hey, in Matthew 26, verse 32, at the last supper, the Lord again pointed out his resurrection.

Matthew 26:32

Watch, noting, that after I have been raised, I will go before you into Galilee.

In other words, after I'm raised from the dead, I'm going to meet you in Galilee.

And that is a prophecy fulfilled.

I'm going to meet you in Galilee.

And here they are, and it's happening.

And they go, oh, what are we going to do?

Sound familiar?

It ought to, because that's where you are.

Because the moment a major tragedy comes into your life, you go, I know, I'm I me too.

Or here's a good one.

Why me?

Why not us?

So here they are.

Yeah, trust in the Lord.

But then remember this.

What's this?

Hey, metamorphosis, he also said, Hey, he gave them an example.

You know what he told them?

He said, What's this?

Now, this is what he told the scribes and the Pharisees.

He said, Hey, see this?

Destroy the temple.

Now he's talking about his body.

They thought he was talking about the real temple.

He says, Destroy this temple in three days, I'm going to raise it again.

And they said, Huh?

You mean to tell me you're going to they're thinking you're going to destroy this temple and you're going to raise it up in three days.

No, he's talking about himself.

He's talking about himself.

Over and over again, Jesus predicted that he would be crucified and that he would raise again three days.

The fact that he said it, the fact that he accomplished it, is one of the greatest miracles in the word of God.

He predicted it and he did it.

No one else has ever done that.

No one.

No one.

So it was evidence of his deity, and he not only could predict it, but he made it happen.

So Josh McDowell that night said, Danny, that's why I came to believe the resurrection's gotta be real.

But then he said, there's a second evidence.

He said, that second evidence is the proofs of the resurrection.

If we look at all the New Testament records, he said we'll find at least ten appearances of Jesus Christ to his followers after the resurrection, during that 40-day period before he ascended to heaven.

He was alive and walking around for 40 days after he came up out of the grave.

Ten appearances of Jesus to his followers after the resurrection.

He appeared to both women, men, groups, individuals, different places.

Jerusalem, Emmaus, Galilee, on the mountain.

I meant, hey, by the sea of Tiberias.

I meant they all saw him.

In fact, not only did they see him, ladies and gentlemen, and look at this.

1 Corinthians, I told you to turn there.

15.

This is good.

Pick up with me at verse 5.

And that he was seen of Cephas, Peter, then of the twelve.

And after that he was seen of above.

Now, watch this, ladies and gentlemen.

Listen, church, 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remains into the present, but some are fallen asleep.

Some have died, but some are still alive while Paul's writing this truth.

In other words, they are alive to validate what Paul's writing and what he's saying.

He's right.

I saw it.

I saw him.

Wow.

Look at that.

Look at it.

And after that, he was seen of James, then of the apostles.

And last of all, he was seen of me.

That's the Paul, the Apostle Paul, also as of one born out of due time.

So look at what we see, the proofs right here.

The variety, write this down.

You want to put a note here.

The variety of his appearances can't not do anything but prove that he was alive.

It wasn't one episode, it wasn't even two.

It was numerous.

It was a vast, hey, a vast amount of evidence of his appearances and his talking.

And not only listened, did they see him, they heard him, they touched him, they ate with him.

Can I get an amen?

So we see throughout the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus are easy to document.

Easy.

Easy.

With Mary Magdalene at the tomb.

With the, hey, with the disciples in the upper room, he appeared to them twice.

Once with Thomas not there, and once with Thomas there.

And Thomas, when he was there, actually touched his side and touched the nail scarred hands.

Touched him.

Mary Magdalene wouldn't let him go.

He had to literally tell her, no, no, no.

Hey, you gotta, hey, I've got to be about my business.

I hadn't ascended yet.

You, and you need to go about your business now.

It's a new relationship with us.

Now you're my ambassador.

Now you're my witness.

Go tell the disciples.

So we see.

He appeared to John on the island of Patamas, Paul in the temple.

One of the proofs of Christ's resurrection is the number of his sightings.

I mean, it's evident, it's true.

And I love what he says in Acts chapter 1, verse 3.

Acts 1:3

Listen to this.

Here's what he said.

To whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many, watch, infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

There it is.

There it is, folks.

What I just told you is validated with the scripture.

Powerful.

So the question now is this what do we do with the evidence?

And that's what Josh told me that night.

He said, Danny, you're a professor at liberty.

He says, I came to that same conclusion.

Now all, hey, all this, all these predictions that God himself made, the prophets made in the Old Testament.

Now the proofs of all these eyewitnesses, the people that touched him, the people that saw him, the people that ate with him.

And then he says, the character of these witnesses meant so much.

He said, I came to the realization these were brilliant men, some, some of them were scholarly men, some of them were thinkers.

And he said, I came to the realization, how could these men that were so worthy and high in character take hook, line, and sinker, the lie that the resurrection didn't happen.

It's a lie.

See, that's what everybody was telling them.

It's a lie.

They made it up.

Or they stole the body.

There was all kinds of theories.

That's another day's message.

Go through all the theories.

It's hogwash, really.

That's why I don't bother with them.

Amen.

Here's the truth.

Here's the truth.

Jesus did exactly what he said he would do.

In fact, Josh said he came to this point, and I wrote this down.

He said, This would have been a psychological absurdity of this band of disciples who deserted Christ at his most needful time and went up into the upper room.

And then two days later, though, after Jesus appeared to him, they came from cowards to courageous evangelists.

And most of them gave their lives for that cause.

He said, No.

Someone that thought that was a lie would not do that.

There's no way.

No way.

None.

The bottom line is this.

What's this?

The body of Moses lies in a grave.

The body of Muhammad lies in a tomb.

The remains of linen lie in a glass-covered casket in Moscow.

Now I want you to listen to this.

On his casket, here's the words.

Linen's casket that's in a glass covered in the center of whatever they call that in Moscow.

Watch this.

He was the greatest leader of all peoples, of all countries, of all times.

He was the Lord of the new humanity.

He was the savior of the world.

Only problem with that.

Let me tell you the major problem I'll have with that.

But when Lenin went to bed on January the 20th, 1924, he never woke up.

Never.

No one has heard from him since.

He's dead like every other human being who has ever lived.

If Lenin is indeed the Savior of the world, then there is no hope for Christianity.

None whatsoever.

But on the authority of the word of God, hey, Jesus Christ, who said he would die and rise again is the Savior of the world, the Lord of Lords, the King of kings.

And ladies and gentlemen, on this Easter, he's alive.

And it's been proven.

It's been predicted, and it's been proven.

Eyewitnesses.

Eyewitnesses.

500 at one time.

Now I used to be a police officer.

If I have one or two good witnesses, I could win the case.

If you have 500, give me a break.

You with me.

The predictions, Josh said, proves it.

The proofs, prove it.

And then the last thing, and I'm through.

He said, the present day evidences.

Prove it.

In other words, right now, you and I have four evidences that prove that Jesus is alive and well and that he's real.

Number one, our Christian faith.

Amen.

Listen, if you're here this morning and you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I didn't say you've been baptized.

I didn't say you joined a church.

I didn't say you go to church.

I didn't say you give to the church.

I said you've been radically changed.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Oh, hey, behold, all things have become new.

When Danny Lovett got saved, hey, at first Baptist Church up in the balcony, I radically changed.

Never been the same since.

Somebody said, man, he's just getting weirder and weirder.

No, I'm just growing old in the Lord.

Amen.

And hey, I'm a fanatic.

I was a fanatic when I got saved, and I'm a fanatic 35 years later, and I'm going to be a fanatic when I die, and on my casket, I'm going to have in big bowl letters.

Jesus is awesome! And if my wife left me, I'm going to preach my funeral.

I'm going to tape it and preach it.

I don't need Rick to preach it.

I don't need any of you.

You come and you'll hear me for the last time.

And I'm going to be in heaven.

And I'm going to tell you.

And I'm going to close it with the song, Wish You Were Here.

I've been thinking through this, folks.

I have, Clay.

I'm going to tape it and give it to you, God.

You'll play it.

Amen.

Yeah.

Amen.

Why?

I believe it.

It's real, folks.

I'm not going to die.

Not going to die.

Just going to change addresses.

Not going to die.

Amen.

That's right.

That's exactly right.

But our Christian faith, look at verses 14 through 19 right here in 1 Corinthians 15.

Look at this.

Look at this.

This ought to make a Presbyterian shout.

Get ready.

Well, start at verse 12.

Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, which I'm preaching this morning, how say some among you that there's no resurrection of the dead?

Some at Corinth said, no, that's a lie.

He didn't raise from the dead.

Oh, okay.

Then Paul said, but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen?

In other words, hey, there's no resurrection.

He's still dead.

Where is his body?

What are you going to do with all these witnesses?

Huh?

What are you going to do with me?

I saw him.

Verse 14.

Now here's where it really gets good.

Here's the first set of consequences if there is no resurrection.

Look what he said.

And if Christ be not risen, then our preaching's vain and your faith is vain.

That's what it says.

In other words, Christ is not risen, our preaching is empty, our faith is empty.

Verse 15, yay.

And we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.

In other words, he says, we lied about God and bear a false witness against God if he didn't raise Jesus from the dead.

Now look at verse 16.

Now we see the second sets of consequences.

For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised?

He says, Huh?

Hey, Christ is not raised.

And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain.

You are yet in your sins.

Our faith is empty.

We are still in our sins.

That's a bad place to be, folks, because that means your destination's hell.

I don't think anybody wants to go to hell.

And then he says, but now watch.

Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

In other words, dead believers that have gone before us have perished.

There's no hope of us seeing them again.

But then look what he says.

If in this life only we have this hope in Christ, we're all most men most miserable.

What a powerful, unbelievable statement.

The resurrection of Jesus is the very foundation of the Christian faith.

Watch.

The doctrine that turned the world upside down and lifted Christianity above Judaism and also the pagan religions of the Mediterranean is securely based on the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Totally.

Totally.

If he did not rise, there's no Christian faith.

If the resurrection is not true, neither is anything vital or unique about the gospel.

I thought about that.

And then, hey, here's what one theologian said.

If it has been said that if the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a historical fact, listen what he said, then it is our duty to dig a new grave and bury not a man but a religion, and that religion is Christianity, the only hope of the world.

Wow.

Wow.

But I got news.

Up from the grave he arose.

So what is our first present-day evidence?

Our Christian faith.

Folks, you can't talk me out of my salvation.

You can't make me doubt my salvation because I know what I was before I got saved, and I know what I am after I've gotten saved.

Amen.

I'm a new man.

I'm a new creation.

I'm not the same old man I used to be.

I got a new thought process.

I got a new want to.

Somebody said, Well, I could do anything I wanted to if I'm a Christian.

Yeah, you can.

That's true.

But the thing was, so if I wanted to go be bad, I could be bad.

Let me tell you, if you're really walking with God and a real Christian, you don't want to do those things.

And if you even think about them, you get convicted.

Hello.

Man, I think about, I'm going to do watch this, bam.

I guess bam, no, you're not.

Or you start to watch something you ought not to watch, to read something you ought to, and the Holy Spirit says, woo-hoo, ha ha, ha, woo.

Hey.

Amen.

Set no wicked things before your eyes.

Hello?

He that has ear, let him hear.

Hear what?

The truth.

You with me?

I don't know.

That's the way the Holy Spirit works me.

You said, Well, you must be weird.

I must be.

But I can't, I can't even think wrong without him getting on to me.

I start thinking wrong.

He's cast down imaginations.

And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

You stay in the book, folks, it'll it'll it'll keep you straight.

Amen.

And then if I don't have the Holy Spirit, I got the second Holy Spirit, Susan.

Honey, ought not do that.

Honey, you thought about that?

What you thinking?

You don't even know what I'm thinking.

I know what you're thinking.

How do you know what I'm thinking?

Sometimes I wonder.

She does know what I'm thinking.

Lord, help me.

And you think I don't have a chance.

So I just surrender.

Amen?

It's a lot easier.

Yeah, a lot easier.

A lot easier.

Hallelujah.

Second.

Present day evidence.

Not only our Christian faith, but our hey, are you ready for this?

This is powerful.

Our Christian church.

Now think a minute.

If the crucifixion ended, the disciples and their ministry, we wouldn't have the church today.

The birth of the New Testament church in Acts 2.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the hey, it's God's church.

And he says, Upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Hey, Jesus Christ is the only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid than that which is laid.

1 Corinthians 3 11.

Yes.

Chief cornerstone in Peter.

That's it.

Hey, the Christian church has come into being.

The church was founded on Jesus, the Messiah.

And if Jesus was a dead Messiah, there wouldn't be a church.

Can I get an amen?

Yes.

Yes.

Then the third present-day evidence.

We have our Christian faith.

We have our Christian church.

You ready?

Our Christian Sunday.

Oh.

Christian Sunday.

This is good.

The very fact that we attend church on Sunday today is evidence for the resurrection.

Now let me prove that.

The original day of worship was Saturday because it was said that God finished his work of creation on that day and rested on Sunday.

The most reverent thing a Jew could do back then was to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy.

But Christians began meeting on Sundays because it was acknowledged that Jesus came back from the grave on Sunday.

Remember that these were, hey, predominantly Jewish believers, for them to change the Sabbath to Sunday was huge.

But why did they do it?

Watch here.

Mark 16, verse 9.

Mark 16:9

Now, when Jesus was risen early, the what?

Say it with me, the first day of the week.

And then go to Acts 27 and watch this.

In Acts 27.

And upon the what?

First day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow.

In other words, they came together on Sundays and they broke bread together.

They preached.

They taught the word of God together.

Oh, we they had the love feast together on 1 Corinthians 11.

Somebody said, Y'all feed everybody every week.

Absolutely.

He said, Why do you do that?

I said, Because they did it in Corinthians.

They called it the love feast.

It's and it's one of our core values here, intimate fellowship.

We break bread together.

Why?

We get to know each other.

We love each other.

We are family here, and it means so much to us.

It really does.

We are a community church.

We love our community.

We want to be a blessing.

We have an ice cream truck that goes around in neighborhoods giving away free ice cream.

You say, what's that for?

Because we want to be a blessing.

And it's got on the ice cream truck, Jesus is awesome.

Ha ha! Amen.

So that's why we do it.

But that's, hey, on the, and then on 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses 1 and 2, Paul taught the Corinthian believers that on the first day, now concerning the collection, why do we take a collection?

1 Corinthians 16:1

Hey, for the saints.

As I, he says, as I have given order to the church in Galatia, even so do ye.

When?

On the first day of the week.

On Sunday.

That's why we now worship on Sunday because of the resurrection.

Our Christian Sunday proves it.

Our Christian, hey, hey, our Christian faith proves it, and our Christian church proves it.

And the last thing is our Christian ordinances prove it.

Is that not good?

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

That's good.

That's good.

The fourth Christian ordinances are evidence.

The Lord's table is a remembrance of his death.

But Acts 2 says that we are to participate in the Lord's table with joy because it foretells the resurrection of Christ.

Listen, if all there was with the cross, it wouldn't be joy.

Folks, it didn't end there.

And I love that cross.

Whoever did this, you do this, Rosemary.

That's just gorgeous.

That's just gorgeous.

But listen to me.

Hey, the cross is not the end.

When we partake of the Lord's Supper, we remember his death.

But the last thing we remember is his returning.

He's coming back.

Why?

Because he raised from the dead.

He's alive.

He's alive.

And then the ordinance of baptism.

Oh, oh, hey.

The ordinance of baptism also offers a beautiful picture of the resurrection.

Going down into the water is not merely a symbol, and it's just a symbol of having our sins washed away, but of being buried with Jesus, being raised to walk a new life, a life like Jesus Christ.

Yes, he went down into the tomb, but he was resurrected out of the tomb.

Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism and the death that life.

Christ was raised up from the spell.

By the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Acts 6, 4.

That's why baptism is so beautiful.

Why?

It's a picture of the resurrection.

So if you need to be baptized, you need to be baptized.

What a picture.

What a testimony.

So is there life after death?

Oh yes.

And it has been proven by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The predictions, the proofs, and the present-day evidences.

Is that not good, folks?

I told you you would leave here today, knowing that Jesus came up out of that grave.

That he's not dead.

Jesus predicted it.

There was proof of it.

And there's evidence today because of your Christian faith, your church.

Amen.

You and your church.

And the day that we worship.

And the ordinances.

Folks, I got news for you.

He's not dead.

He has risen.

Amen?

Come on, let's try that again.

He is risen.

Now give him a clap offering.

Amen.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day, and again, God bless you.