The moment that changed everything. You know, there are monuments, many monuments set up that are revered because they hold precious remains. There are the, the Pharaohs in the pyramids of Egypt. There’s nobility in Westminster Abbey. There are heroes in Arlington Cemetery. But the grave, the tomb of Jesus. It stands alone in its significance, which is this. It’s empty. There’s no one there, and that emptiness even till today, it proclaims our hope that Jesus is not dead. He is risen, he is alive. Today, we’re really celebrating, I think, the pinnacle of our Christian faith, and it’s an occasion for all of us. I. To take great joy in the triumph of Jesus over death and the grave. For those of you who’ve been with us this past holy week, we’ve traveled together through the the poignant and tender upper room where Jesus shares a Passover meal with his disciples and then repurposes it for them and for us today to be about communion, partaking of his body and blood. And then there’s the somber reflections of Good Friday. We had a a, a Service of shadows, a tenere service, remembering Christ’s sacrificial love on full display on his cross. Then there’s, today we get through dark Saturday, and then there’s Easter Sunday, and today we stand in the light of an empty tomb Easter. Is our assurance that death, it’s not the end of the story, rather God’s love, it’s stronger than any darkness that we face. And that is because our savior lives starting this weekend and, and through the weeks ahead, I invite you to be with us as we look at eyewitness accounts. Of Jesus resurrection and what it means for us today. Uh, the creative team put together this quick little video bumper. Of this upcoming and new sermon series, watch the screens. It is called Eyewitness News. And you know, the resurrection, it stands on the sturdy shoulders of people who actually saw, touched and talked with the risen Jesus ordinary people whose lives were forever altered because of that encounter, we’re gonna be looking at Thomas honest in his doubts, placing his fingers in nail scarred hands, and was moved from skepticism. To genuine worship. We’ll look at two weary travelers who meet a stranger on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus, a stranger whom they finally recognize for who he is when he broke bread with them, and that would turn broken dreams into burning hearts. We’re gonna look at Peter. Who at one time, not long before, had been shattered by his denial of Jesus and was personally restored by the very Lord that he had disowned.

We’ll, look at a, a gathered band of people on a Galilean Hill who received marching orders to go out and disciple the nations, and then later they watch as Jesus ascends into the clouds until he is removed from their sight. And we’ll look at this feisty Saul, uh, a religious attorney, breathing threats against Christians and how on the road to Damascus, he collides with a blinding light and a living savior for all of those people, these are moments that changed everything for them. And yet these independent and overlapping encounters, they knit together really this, this eyewitness credibility that invites us today also to place our feet firmly on resurrection, ground, and walk in the new life that Christ still offers Today. Today we’re gonna look at two women who first peered into that empty tomb. Who would then carry a message that no one expected to hear and their message, it would launch the dawn of Easter. Hope that has been proclaimed throughout the ages, reaching even to us today. I’ll be reading from the New Testament book of Matthew, the last chapter, 28, the first 10 verses after the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord. Came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, do not be afraid. For, I know that you’re looking for Jesus who was crucified. He’s not here. He’s risen. Just as he said, come and see the place where he lay, and then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you so. The women hurried away from the tomb. Afraid, yet filled with joy. And ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings. He said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee where they will see me. The gospel of our Lord. Pray. Let me pray as we continue. Lord God, Jesus Christ. You showed yourself to people who thought you were dead and it changed them forever. Send now your Holy Spirit that we would see you, Jesus, some of us maybe for the first time to see you as our loving savior and our risen redeemer, and for all of us that we be drawn closer to you and find great hope. And freedom and joy because you’ve risen from the dead. For us. I ask this in Jesus’ name and for his sake. Amen. Amen. Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The moment that changed everything, you know, the resurrection, it caused a seismic shift. In the order really of all things. As our text reads and behold, there was a great earthquake. There’s a shaking for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, you know, before Mary Magdalene and the other Mary even arrived at the tomb and earthquake signaled that something spectacular had and was happening. The guard stood at the tomb, they were paralyzed. They witnessed the angel unmovable stone, and these momentum, it marks the, the in God’s power, desperately world that announces God’s power. My wife Ann and I lived in, in the, through a few earthquake. Season there was the Sierra Miles east of the, and we were in the, in the. Unfold and the broadcast zoomed in on this seismograph. It was the Richter scale needle that was sitting there, and all of a sudden it started to shake and move, and then we felt the actual shaking and moving as we were going through an aftershock. I mean, it left an indelible mark. It was surreal like watching a recording of an earthquake you’re going through.

Thankfully our home was spared any real damage. But that experience it, you can tell it left a left, left a lasting impression. And it reminds us just how suddenly and powerfully the ground beneath us can shake. Earthquakes often symbolize God’s divine intervention. In this particular text in Matthew, the earthquake announces a sudden and powerful cosmic shift. And it’s this death has been undone. It’s lost its grip, defeated by a mightier force, God himself. And my prayers for you are the same as these of Paul that he writes in Ephesians one. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you. The riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe that power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead. Those are words of scripture for you today, and this is God’s power at work in us. Capable of shaking even the seemingly unbreakable barriers that you might be facing in your own life. I pray that you would believe, know, and see that God breaks unbreakable stones. When the angel roll that stone away, a seemingly immovable, unmovable obstacle, it rolled with ease and he sat on it in victory. And similarly, we may face situations that can feel completely insurmountable, a relationship on the brink and anxiety, we can’t calm a guilt that continually hounds and seems overwhelming. The Bible reminds us in Romans chapter eight, and if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you. He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of a spirit who lives in you. That’s a true and living reality. The resurrection power that shattered death, it can roll away even the heaviest stones in your own heart and life. For indeed, the resurrection, it’s an invitation to trust the women approach the tomb. Weigh down with questions and worry and sorrow, perhaps not realizing that God had already accomplished the impossible. And so too for us today, what stones might you still be trying to roll away in your own strength? And it’s immovable. The resurrection invites you to trust that God can move that stone, that barrier for you. And as you reflect on things this Easter morning, remember that God’s power, it upended the finality of death and the grave, and come on that same power. It’s available. The Bible saying to you, to today, ready to bring hope and healing and renewal where you least expect it, yet most needed. Easter proclaims an even greater miracle. That the ultimate barrier of sin and death. It’s been defeated and torn down by Christ’s resurrection. Hey, if God can conquer the grave, he can transform any impossible situation in your life. The resurrection caused a seismic shift in the order of things because he has risen. He has risen indeed. The angel said he’s not here for, he has risen, just as he said, and with those few words that angel announces a truth that has forever changed human history, that statement he has risen. It anchors everything that we believe as followers of Jesus for in truly Jesus’ resurrection. It’s the cornerstone of our faith. One Corinthians 15, it declares just as Renee Red Force, if Christ has not been raised, are preachings useless, and so is your faith. But there’s that great hinge. Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. You see the resurrection, it validates every promise that Jesus made because Jesus rose from the dead.

Everything he said, it’s true because Jesus’ grave is empty. He who claimed to be God is God in the flesh, and because he lives, our faith is not empty or meaningless. Romans six teaches us that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. You see the resurrection. It isn’t just about Jesus defeating the death, though he most certainly did, but it’s about your life, your new life, you being transformed, living in a new start in Christ each day. We’ve said it here and Christians around the globe in these last hours. Have joyfully said these words to each other. Christ has risen. And then they response. He’s risen. Indeed. And this isn’t actually just some kind of, um, polite liturgical ritual. It’s actually one of the oldest victory cries of the Christian Church. The roots they reach all the back, all the way back to our text today to Resurrection Day itself. We’ll hear about this later in our sermon series in the weeks ahead. For example, when two disciples from Emmaus, they sprint back to Jerusalem in the upper room, they’re breathless with wonder, a message to, to deliver. But the the believers there greet them first with this burst of good news. The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon, that word indeed in the Greek, it’s the word antos, and it means truly, it means certainly beyond doubt. In other words, he has risen. Truly, he’s risen. Certainly he’s risen beyond doubt. Do you believe that? And from that spark, that greeting, it jumped borders and languages so that by the second centuries believers in Jerusalem, they were already exchanging. This is in Latin here. Christ has risen. He has risen indeed. And through centuries of persecution and pandemic, revival and routine, those same 11 syllables have carried the heartbeat of our faith, the death it did its worst, but Jesus stood up anyway. And why does this matter for you and for me today? This saying, every time we declare he has risen indeed, every time we say it, we are defiantly pushing back against the darkness that loves to keep whispering in our ears. Nothing ever changes. Oh yeah. When we declare this resurrection reality, we are reminding our anxious hearts. That things like cancer or grief or broken dreams, they do not write the last chapter. Jesus does his empty tomb. It’s a receipt stamp paid in full over every sin and any sorrow. So when you breathe out that ancient reply, you’re not just mouthing some ritual saying you’re holding forth living hope. So the next time someone greets you, if Christ has risen, try not to mumble a response. Hey, let it rise up from the your toes and up through your whole body. And in fact, we have to do it again. Turn to someone around you and say, Christ has risen, and wait for the reply. He has risen indeed. Go. Risen here. It’s Christ has risen. He risen. He has risen indeed. Amen and amen. And let those words realign your outlook on your life today because of that resurrection reality. And hey, it’s not just for us, it’s for others. We are called to share. The good news, the angel said, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and they departed quickly with fear and great joy. And that may be how you feel too, as you think about me sharing with others. Yeah, just your simple testimony. The angel, and then Jesus himself commissioned the women to tell others what they had seen and they don’t linger at the tomb. Stunned in silence, they run hearts pounding full of both awe and excitement and are determined to share this incredible news. And that same commission is given to you and to me to carry Easter joy to others. In Matthew 28, there’s a passage that’s called the Great Commission. It’s given soon after these resurrection appearances. When Jesus instructs his followers to go and make disciples of all nations. In other words, then as now the story of Easter, it’s not a secret to be kept, but a message to be carried out to the world.

You can be a messenger of good news and of hope to others. As the Bible says in one Peter three. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that you have. Easter Hope it’s desperately needed in a world filled with anxiety, despair, and brokenness, and your testimony about who the risen Christ is and what he means to you. That can be a lifeline for someone in need. For those of you who are part of the church family here at Victory, have you noticed a new cross hanging up behind me here? It was hung just last week. It was paid for through gifts given in memory of loved ones who’ve passed on memorial gifts, gifts designated for a cross for our worship center. But isn’t it interesting that these are gifts given in connection with the death of a loved one? Amen. Very fitting and very fitting for us on this Resurrection Sunday. We’re going to dedicate it here in just a moment. Dedicate it to God and for his kingdom purposes to speak to the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection, to lead you to Jesus every time you see it, and to inspire true and spirit-filled worship, and then to motivate us. To share this good news of Christ Jesus with others outside of these walls. Let this cross. Every time you see it, remind your hearts. As we read in the Psalms, we ponder your steadfast love, oh God, within your temple. Your praise, oh God, reaches to the heavens. Your right hand is full of righteousness. So let us now dedicate this cross to Christ’s glory. Crafted by human hands and set before us with love. This empty cross stands as our bold reminder. Jesus died here for you and for me, but just as his tomb is empty. So also is this cross. It’s not a symbol of defeat, but a victory. And it calls each of us to believe that through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, everyone who believes in Christ is offered new and everlasting life. And then to step beyond these walls and share this good news with others, may this cross inspire us every time we see it, to hold onto this hope and then to carry it into our neighborhoods, our workplaces. Among our families with our friends far and near across the street and around the world, inviting all to know the love of God given us in Jesus Christ. And all God’s people said, amen. God. Let’s join our hearts in prayer. Gracious Lord, we rejoice in the empty cross and the open tomb. Living reminders of Christ’s victory that we gladly receive and believe by faith. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, empowering our hearts with boldness and compassion to not only believe this life changing message, but to carry it beyond these walls. May our words and our lives echo the good news of Jesus’, death and resurrection. Inviting all to know the hope and new life. That we have found in him, in Jesus’ precious and powerful name I pray. Amen. Amen.