Easter Sunday: Jesus Can Change Your Panic to Praise - April 5, 2026

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6, 19, pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

I hope that you've felt the presence of the Lord here, And at least that you've

allowed God to speak to your heart.

And, you know, they just got done singing about God's amazing grace.

Together we sang about God's amazing grace. And it's that grace of God that

we can proclaim together that Jesus is risen.

Can we say that together? Would you say that with me?

Jesus is risen. And we always follow that up with, he is risen indeed.

It's just like, yeah, he is. You know, it's the exclamation point on the end of that statement.

We read the scripture this morning from Matthew chapter 28, verses 1 through

Matthew 28:1–10

10. It's Matthew's perspective.

It's Matthew's account on the resurrection and how all that came to pass.

And, you know, the risen Jesus demands a response.

And the response that he wants is it's a call to us.

It's an appeal, if you will. And I'll talk about the fourfold appeal that we

find in the scripture passage today.

But what I want you to catch is that Jesus, he can change your panic into praise.

You see, when the women came to the tomb, they were a little panicked.

As you read through each of the Gospels, you can see a little different perspective

on the full scheme of what happened that day, the full picture of that.

The women came to do some anointing, and when they got here,

they were freaking out a little bit because his body was gone.

Jesus was not in that tomb.

And so they were afraid.

And in one of the Gospels, it says they were afraid that someone had come and stolen the body.

Well, it's hard to steal a body when you've got a gigantic multi-ton stone in front of the grave.

And when it's sealed by the Roman seal that says, uh-uh, no one's supposed to touch it.

It's like that yellow tape that police officers put around crime scenes.

Do not cross, right? It was that kind of thing.

No one was supposed to mess with it. As a matter of fact, they had two guards out there guarding it.

At least two. There was probably more. I think there were more.

But there they were. when they got there, the ladies, those guards were not around.

Jesus was not around. They were sorely afraid.

And then an angel comes to them, and an angel says to them, do not be afraid.

Especially when you read the description of what the angels look like,

turn our attention to that again.

It says the angels were appearance, it was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

So, man, this dude was glowing. I mean, you're talking about something that

would freak you out if you just came on it. You're already sad.

You're already a little down because you can't find the body of your Savior.

You're there to anoint his body. You're there to pay your respects again.

But Jesus is gone, and there's this figure that appears. And wow.

So they were afraid. Jesus says, fear not.

The angel says, fear not. Fear not.

Folks, how many times are we tempted or do we succumb to anxiety today?

Just the blatant fear of something, and it stops us from taking a step of faith

to do something good for someone else.

Taking a step of faith, maybe even to take care of something in our life.

We've got to remember the words of the angel, the words of Jesus even in verse

10 when he tells the ladies, Do not be afraid.

Don't fear. I want to tell you guys, don't be afraid.

Hey, don't be afraid of death. If there's something about Easter Sunday,

if there's something about Resurrection Sunday, it is that Jesus Christ has conquered death.

He rose again from the grave.

He's conquered death. He was seen by many. The scripture goes on to record later

that he was seen by as many as 500 at one time.

We're talking about not being afraid because Jesus has conquered the fear of

death. You don't have to be afraid of that anymore.

Now, it doesn't mean, you know, go and do stupid stuff because you're not afraid of death anymore.

You can still die, but ultimately, guess what?

Your death is not in the hands of yourself. Your death ultimately,

eternally, is not in anyone's hands but God anymore. You do have a choice, though.

You do have a choice to follow God, to trust God in Jesus, and he can take away

that fear, any fear that you have, fear of death, the fear of failure,

fears that just irrationally approach you that come upon you.

The appeal here is fear not. Don't be afraid today, you guys.

Secondly, what we see here is in verse 6, what the scripture says,

the angel said, come and see.

Do not be afraid, for I know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here. He has risen.

Come and see the place where he lay. Come and check it out. It's not there.

You know, if you go to Israel, I've never been, but I'm told you can go to certain

places and they'll say, this is the place where Jesus was.

Well, we're not exactly sure. And there's several replicas that are out there.

I like our little replica that's behind the heavenly scene here, the clouds.

But when we think about the risen Jesus, we don't serve a dead Savior that we

can go and pay homage to like the ladies were going to do that day.

We serve a risen Savior who invites you today. Come and see.

Come and check Jesus out. Come and see what Jesus can do for you in your life.

Come and see what God has already done, and he's offering it to you.

It's just a free gift. You just have to take it and accept it,

unwrap it, and see all that God has planned for your life.

Some of you in this room have done that, and you've been on quite the spiritual adventure.

You never knew that God would take you on this journey that you've been on.

You gave up your sin. you gave up your old way of life and you're following

a new way of life where it's one step at a time.

You're not sure what tomorrow holds, but you're trusting God as you live because

you accepted the invitation. Come and see.

Come and check out what God's doing in the world.

Some of you have signed up to go to Honduras. Some of you are going to be leaving

very soon. And for some, it's your first mission trip.

Others have signed up in November. You're going to go to the same place.

It'll be a totally different trip. I can guarantee you that.

But you've taken a step of faith to say, okay, God, you've invited me to come

see, so I'm going to go check it out.

How can I serve other people? How can I help other people?

How can I share your love with others?

So this morning, I just want to ask you, have you come and have you seen what God is doing?

You see, the thing is, we're not supposed to be afraid because Jesus lives.

We don't have to let fear. We don't have to let guilt, shame,

or death have the final word over our life.

And when we're accepted or invited, excuse me, to come and see,

the risen Christ invites us to draw near, see what God's doing,

surrender your life to him.

It's that word that's hard though, isn't it? Man, we don't like surrender.

We don't like to give up. And sometimes we're so stubborn that we keep crashing

into the same brick wall trying to do something that we know is not going to

happen in our own strength.

And we just won't stop. We just keep hitting the wall over and over again.

And what do people call that when you just keep doing the same thing over and

over again and get the same result?

Insanity. It's insane. And it's a little insane not to accept the invitation

that Christ offers to come and to see.

So surrender to him. Surrender to his invitation to come and see.

But one of the things the angel said to the ladies there that morning was very

profound and very important.

Because I'm sure they were in awe not just because Jesus was gone out of the

tomb. They were in awe because of the angel that was there, but just kind of

bewildered that all this was happening after the events of the last week.

Well, just a week ago, people were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Here comes our Messiah, come to save us, come to set us free.

And in many people's minds, it was that political oppression they thought they

would be free from, that the Romans were out of here and they could be their own nation again.

But yet Jesus showed them a different kind of kingdom, a kingdom that will ultimately

lead to Jesus being shown to the entire world, King of Kings and Lord of Lords,

but that starts in people's hearts.

That starts in the heart of every person that's in here, every person that has

ever lived, and every person that will come after you has to say, Jesus, are you my King?

Because what Jesus, or excuse me, what the angel says, after all this,

he says, I want you to go quickly and tell the other disciples.

Hey, tell them, go ahead to Galilee. I'm going to meet them over there.

Come on, ladies, you could do this.

So the angel tells him this. You know, today you're here because someone invited you.

Whether you saw something in the newspaper or online, or you had a personal

invitation from a family member or a friend.

They invited you to come because they wanted you to hear the good news about Jesus,

that we serve a Savior, a living Savior, who is God, who can hear your prayers

and does hear your prayers and not just hears them, but will answer them as

well. Isn't that awesome?

You're not asked to go do any penance. You're not asked to go and do all these

good deeds to try to earn what Jesus wants to freely give you.

It's already been paid for.

That's what Jesus did on the cross was he paid for your sin.

Every bad thing you ever did, every wrong thought you ever had,

every nasty little thing was put on the back of Jesus on the cross,

and he paid the penalty for the sin that you committed, for the sin that you

thought, your sin of commission,

your sin of omission.

Jesus paid the price for all that. Isn't that awesome?

Now, you have to go and you have to accept Christ to receive that payment that he's done for you.

You've got to surrender yourself to him if you're going to receive what he has.

I just want to tell you today, identify people in your life who need to hear

the story of Christ's work and go tell them about Jesus. It's just that simple.

It's not really complicated is what I'm saying. Is it hard? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it's hard because it gets personal, right? You tell someone they're a sinner.

Ah, them's fighting words for some folks, right? They're ready. Come on, let's go.

But the fact is, the scripture says that all of us are sinners. So it's no new news.

As a matter of fact, the people that get offended when you tell them they're

sinners, they already know it.

It's no new news. And that's the intro to the good news is the bad news, right?

It's not a case you want to hear the bad news or the good news first.

No, you got to hear the bad news first.

Because the bad news is that all of us have sinned and fallen short of what God expects.

Every single person has fallen short. I've told you this before,

but it's like there's a great big target, and that's God's ideal for you.

And you've got a bow and an arrow, and you shoot, trying to hit the bullseye,

and you just totally miss the target.

I mean, that's what the idea of sin is. We've all aimed for the target of being

right with God, of what God expects, but every one of us has missed it.

The most holy among us today has missed that mark.

And so what do we do? Well, we can't do anything.

We have to trust what Jesus did for us in hitting the mark right dead center.

You couldn't get more perfect than that.

And his holy blood, a man that never sinned, his whole life poured out that

blood for you, paid the penalty for your sin so that you could not fear,

so you could come and be invited into what God is doing, but not just that.

So you could also go and tell others about this and go and offer them the good news.

And it's that good news that leads to rejoicing.

It's that good news that leads to party time.

It's that good news that we get to rejoice. You see, the ladies,

they started going away from the tomb, right?

And as they started going away from the tomb, then Jesus was there,

the resurrected, the risen Christ.

And it says As they fell at his feet, they began to worship him there.

They tried to grab a hold of his feet. In one gospel, Jesus scolds them,

well, in a nice way, of course.

Hey, don't touch me yet because I have not yet ascended to the Father.

Jesus was there with the ladies. And again, they were afraid,

but Jesus told them, don't fear. But they were there rejoicing.

Remember all that anxiety they had going to the tomb?

All the anxiety that was there in the midst of this place of death, of burial?

It was gone the moment they saw Jesus.

They began to rejoice. They began to praise God. And then Jesus reminded them of their mission.

Hey, go tell my disciples. I'm going to see them over in Galilee.

Go tell them I'm going to meet them there. But the ladies were the first ones to get to see Jesus.

Even though Peter and John and the disciples came down, looked at the tomb,

they took off after that.

But the ladies stayed. They were faithful and they were blessed with the first

seeing of Jesus, the resurrected one.

When you think about the scripture passage, you think about your own life,

will you let Jesus turn your panic into praise?

I don't know what area of life you got that you're panicking in,

but you don't have to. You take a minute, breathe.

Spiritually speaking, you don't have to worry about that sin stuff anymore.

You know that stuff that's always tripping you up? You try to be good.

Some of you haven't been to church maybe in a year. I'm grateful that you're here.

Don't get me wrong. But like next Sunday you'll try to go And the next one And

something always gets in the way Or you get in your own head And you trip yourself up Right?

Or you're like Man, I can't go back there.

But guess what? Jesus is there to take away that, to say, no,

no, it's not just about going to church. It's about every day of your life,

the way that you're living.

Jesus can take that sin away once and for all. He can remove it from you,

but you have to give it up.

You got to hands down, palms down, just drop it into his hands.

Jesus already died for your sin. The payment's already have been made for it.

You see, the Bible says in Romans 3, the wages of sin is death.

Each and every one of us deserves death because of our sin.

But the follow-up to that is the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ,

our Lord. Isn't that awesome?

Hey, we've all deserving of sin. This guy up here, that's talking at you or

talking to you, talking with you.

I deserve sin. I mean, I deserve death because of my sin, but because of what

Christ has done, because he gave his life and because I'm trusting what Jesus

did, that what he did, dying on the cross, is sufficient to cover all my sin.

It doesn't mean I go out and do more. No.

I trust God that he's going to take that out of my life completely.

It doesn't mean you never make a mistake. It doesn't mean you won't ever do

anything wrong. It just means you don't have to.

Jesus has made the way for that holy life to walk in that.

If you follow his path, if you trust him in that, he's going to take care of you.

To live and worship the resurrected Jesus because you love him,

because you've got a relationship with him every day, because he's your savior.

He can be the best friend you ever had.

Because Jesus is resurrected, he's alive. He's alive today.

Don't just do religious things because they're habits. Do them because it's

a vibrant relationship that you can have with a living God, the God of the universe,

who has the power to change your life, totally transform you.

It's up to you though would you trust him would you trust jesus in that today.

Conclusion just want to say this fear not jesus is risen come and see because

jesus is risen go and tell the good news because what am i going to say he is

risen and it's on the screen right Good.

Rejoice because he is risen. Hey, Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed.

Are you trusting him today? Hey, I'm not telling you go out and be religious and all that.

I'm just saying settle the account with your Savior and then be open to the

great and amazing adventure of a life he's got planned for you.

Some of you are saying, whoa, whoa, I'm not into adventure.

Man, I like my place on the couch with my remote and my TV.

That's adventurous for some, I understand.

You might have to surrender that remote and your comfy spot on the couch and

step out and see the incredible bright light of hope that's out there for people

that are in need, that live in a dark world where there is no hope.

And trusting in God, well, He's going to lead you to that.

Before we close this morning, we've got a few things to do, but I just want

to ask you, since this is perhaps just one of the only chances I get to talk to you.

How are you and Jesus doing?

Have you accepted Christ as your Savior? Are you trusting Him that He's taking care of your sins?

Are you trusting him that you've got your name written down in glory and should

you take your last breath today?

The next one would be with eyes wide open, awake with Christ in his presence.

Are you assured of that? Do you know that today?

And that's what Easter is all about. It's not about bunnies and eggs and family getting together.

Those are all great things, but really it's about a resurrected Jesus,

the son of God who gave up his life willingly for you so that you could live

eternally and live the kind of life that He really, really wants you to live,

a life where you're blessed,

but other people are too, where you live your life not worried about the next

thing you're going to do wrong, but you concern your life with what God wants

you to do next that is right and that is totally on mission with what He has for you.

So I ask you that today because I want to give you an invitation.

I've got some of the cast and crew of the production today. I'm and ask if they'll come forward.

They've said that this morning, they'll be willing to pray for anyone or with

anyone who would like to just come up and just pray.

It could be about anything. If it's about your relationship with Jesus,

I could tell you that they'll introduce you to Jesus, no problem.

You know, look at who we've got up here. We've got Peter.

We've got a guy that denied Christ three times in public when he could have stood up for Jesus.

We've got a guy that was doubting, thomas thomas the

twin here he was doubting that

jesus really rose again when everyone was saying no he's

risen maybe at

times you've denied christ yeah i used to do the church thing used to the christian

thing but other stuff got in the way or maybe you believed at one time but then

all these doubts just kind of flooded in and and you just can't get over them

would you surrender that today?

Would you surrender yourself today and just say, Jesus, I want all of you.

I believe that you rose again from the grave. I believe you died on the cross for me and then rose.

And I'm going to trust you that what you did is sufficient to save me from my

sin, but to save me for eternity and to give me a new life.

And so what I'd like to do is just invite you to stand just for a few minutes.

I'm not trying to pull any trick on you. Don't worry about that.

But I would like to invite you, if you want, if you're willing, would you come?

Would you come? Pray with some of these that are here. We've got some men and

some women. They'll be willing to pray with you.

But would you come? Let me pray with you. And as I'm praying,

just please feel free to come.

Father, I know that you've moved on my heart today. Lord, through the songs

we've sung, Lord, through the drama that was presented.

Lord, I know you're speaking to hearts today because in a group this size,

Lord, there's always something going on in someone's life where they just need

an extra dose of you, where they just need to turn their life over to you.

And so God, this is an opportunity that I know doesn't come around all the time,

but Father, maybe today is the day you've appointed for that one person in here

to say, yes, Jesus, I want to follow you.

Yes, Jesus, I need to give up these things in my life and I need to follow your way.

Or if that person's here this morning, we just speak to their heart. Just whisper to them.

And with your heads bowed and your eyes closed this morning,

I just want to invite you to come. Would you come? Amen.

We've got some that are coming. Would others like to come this morning?

If you'd like to pray to receive Christ if you'd like just to pray you're a

Christian already but things have just not been going good now's the time what are you waiting for?

Tomorrow's a different day we're not even promised tomorrow in all reality I

just want to invite you to come,

Heavenly Father, would you be with these that are here this morning?

God, I pray that you'd speak to each and every heart individually,

that, God, you would just move in such a powerful way that they know it's you speaking to them.

And, God, would you just draw them close to you now?

Father, I pray that if their heart is not ready to relinquish control,

to give that to you, that, Lord, you give them another day.

Another day so that they can hear the good news. But Lord, whatever your plan

is for their life, I just pray that today might be the day of their salvation.

Maybe you're here this morning and you just know you're not right with God.

There's stuff that's gotten in the way and you've let it get in the way.

Would you just ask God to forgive you of that this morning?

It's as simple as saying that. God, forgive me. Forgive me because I've sinned against you.

1 John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, that God is faithful and just,

he'll forgive us of those sins and cleanse us from all that unrighteousness.

Would you let God cleanse you today?

You ask him to forgive you? And then commit, Jesus, you're my Lord,

so I'm going to follow you.

You're in control of my life now, so I want to follow you into what's next.

To trust him today in that.

Father, again, be with everyone that's here. Lord, I pray that today,

Lord, we would make sure we're all right with you before we leave on this Resurrection

Sunday, because we could live in the power of the resurrection in every single area of our life.

And God, you want us to live that way. You want us to live a powerful life,

a life of not fearing, a life of stepping into the invitation to see where you'll

lead us, an invitation to go and tell others about what you're doing in our lives.

And Lord, then follow it up by rejoicing and more worship and just this state

of happiness, Lord, the state of joy that lasts no matter what circumstances we go through in life.

God, in all of this I just pray that your will be done Speak to hearts continuing

Through the rest of this service I pray in Jesus' name,

Amen I want to thank you For joining today's sermon podcast You can find a copy

of today's sermon As well as other sermons And the sermon outline from today On our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that

recognizes the authority of the Bible.