Week 1 – Jeff Maness – April 21, 2019 (Easter)
No matter how good we live our lives, life doesn’t always turn out good. So, what do we do when life doesn’t go our way? When life doesn’t go our way, we can choose to live in the reaction or live in the resurrection.
Even So… Resurrection
Matthew 20:17-19 17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. 18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die.19 Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”
Big Idea: When things don’t go my way, I can either live in the reaction or live in the resurrection.
John 11:25-26 25 “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this?”
Big Question: How do I live in the resurrection?
Main Scripture: Luke 24:1-31, John 20:19-22
Luke 24:1-12 1 But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 3 So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. 5 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee,7 that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and (Yet, But, Even so…) that he would rise again on the third day.” 8 Then they remembered that he had said this. 9 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. 11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. 12 However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.
1. Wait expectantly
Romans 8:28 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Luke 24:21-24 21 “We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. 22 Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. 23 They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! 24 Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”
2. Walk confidently
Romans 15:13 13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 27:13-14 13 Yet (Even so) I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. 14 Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
3. Worship Continually
John 20:19-20 19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!
Philippians 4:4 4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!
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