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Easter - This Changes Everything

Some moments don’t just inspire—they redefine everything.

Easter is one of those moments.

This message explores what the resurrection actually means—not just as a belief, but as a turning point for how we see failure, forgiveness, doubt, and hope. From Jesus’ final words on the cross to the empty tomb in John 20, we’re invited into a story that doesn’t ignore pain—but transforms it.

Along the way, we see something deeply personal:

a God who speaks to the broken, meets people in their doubt, and brings peace into places that feel locked and guarded.

When Mary hears her name, everything changes.

When Thomas wrestles with doubt, he’s not pushed away—he’s invited closer.

This episode is about more than what happened back then.

It’s about what happens when belief becomes personal—when peace replaces fear, and when hope becomes real.

Because Easter isn’t just something to remember.

It’s something that can change how you live.

Scripture Focus: John 20

00:00 Easter Welcome

00:23 Why Resurrection Matters

02:36 The Final Words on the Cross

09:37 Mercy and the Empty Tomb

11:04 Questions and Doubts

14:44 The Evidence of the Empty Tomb

17:41 Mary Meets Jesus

18:40 Called By Name

21:22 Letting Go and Trusting

22:54 Peace in Closed Spaces

24:46 The Breath of New Life

26:30 Strength to Overcome

28:20 Thomas and Doubt

30:57 A Personal Message of Love

32:26 Believing Without Seeing

33:13 Communion and Reflection

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OC Church of Christ

Transcript
Speaker:

Dr. Gregg Marutzky:

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Morning, church.

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Morning.

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Happy Easter.

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Turn it off.

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That must be a

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All right.

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I think we're okay now.

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Happy Easter.

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Easter folks.

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This is the most important

day of the year for me.

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It hasn't always been, uh, even as a

minister for many, many years, I, uh,

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didn't grasp the total significance

of Easter, but the more and more I

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studied, the more and more I learned.

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I became what I call a cross

theologian, where the cross

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is the fulcrum of my faith.

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It really is the foundation of my faith.

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The death bear and resurrection is

the gospel of Christianity, and the

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resurrection is the crowning moment.

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It's the, the proof that God is all

powerful, that God is greater than all

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evil, that wickedness will not prevail.

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That we as Christians truly are

serving the true God and the one

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and only Savior Jesus Christ.

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And so I, uh, used to be an engineer

and so it has to make sense for me.

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I don't need to know everything.

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I don't even need to know

everything about God.

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I can't get my head around God

or otherwise I would explode.

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Right?

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And, uh, my head's too big as it is.

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So, but, but I do need

for it to make sense.

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It's reasonable.

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Wow.

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The resurrection of Jesus, the empty tomb.

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I wanna welcome you this morning

I, uh, decided to wear a shirt

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that would keep your attention.

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All of the Easter colors, you know,

you know all the different colors

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that, of the eggs that the kids will

be gathering after church decided that,

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uh, uh, this would keep your attention.

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The resurrection changes everything.

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At least it has for me, that

because of the resurrection of

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Jesus Christ, I'm a Christian.

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Not only am I a Christian, but I

devoted my life to the ministry

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because I wanted to change the world.

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I'm a sixties baby, you know,

I grew up in the sixties.

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I wanted to change the world.

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Thought about going to the moon, thought

about this, and that, decided that

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Jesus was the answer to the problem.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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And I wanna start out a little

bit with Good Friday because.

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I want us to know who

the Easter story is for.

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I want you to know that it's for you

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that Jesus died on the cross, but

most of all, he resurrected to show

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you and me how much God loves us.

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All right?

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And he made seven final statements on

the cross that I think describe the

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people that he was trying to save.

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He said in Luke 23, father forgive 'em

for they don't know what they're doing.

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That's the crowds, that's the

persecutor, that's the enemies.

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If God can love his enemies, if Jesus

can die and forgive the, the backers

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in life, those that persecute others

for no reason, those that are just.

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Downright evil in some ways and

mean in other ways, and heartless.

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If Jesus can hang on the cross and forgive

them, then hey, I think I got a chance.

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I think you got a chance.

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I haven't met anybody in this

church that I think's even bad, and

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especially the longer I've been a

minister, I've never met anybody.

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I gotta say it quite as bad as me.

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And so, so if I can be saved,

I know everyone can be saved.

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Luke 2343 says to the Thief on

the cross, and if you've ever

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read the book, no wonder they

call him the Savior by Max Cato.

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I'd really encourage you to do that, but

this one, that chapter, and another one in

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there made me cry, two of 'em, the tail of

the crucified crook that touched my heart.

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Because for some reason, you know,

I just felt like I, I connected with

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him and I'm not a, a major thief.

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You know, that's not why I haven't

made, didn't make a living in

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that before I became a Christian.

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But the first time I ever got in big

trouble is 'cause I stole marbles

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from the Wilco store when I was a kid.

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And my mother found them at home and made

me go back and give them to the manager.

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And what was so heavy about that,

and it really caused me to never

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steal again, was my mother just

wept in shame the whole time.

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She just wept.

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She had a little bit of a false

view of her baby boy, right?

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Four boys.

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She thought at least one might be good.

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All right?

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But I know didn't ever want

to shame her like that again.

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And so when I read that chapter, I

thought, oh man, Jesus died for me.

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And I want you to know that

Jesus died for you this morning.

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Whether you're a crucified

crook or just done some things,

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you're very much ashamed of.

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John 19 verse 26, Jesus says to Mary,

mother, behold, your son and son John.

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Behold your mother, love of family.

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And for some of his family's easy to love.

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For others, family's hard to love.

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And for some of us it's mixed.

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There's Someon family that are easy.

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There's Someon family that are

hard, but Jesus loved his family.

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Even his brothers, younger brothers

that weren't with him for a long time.

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Jesus died for family.

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And then in Mark 15, and it says, why?

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Why God have you forsaken me?

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I was a chaplain for eight years

at a level one trauma hospital.

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Doctor of ministry in the

emergency room in the A CU.

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Went to all the codes, went to all the

tests, and so many different people would

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ask me, chappy, chappy, why my loved one?

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Why my baby, why my son, why my daughter?

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I've had to pray through

a lot of nightmares about

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those events, haunting me.

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Jesus asked why too?

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And the answer was for Greg, for Dallas,

for Kathy, for Mandy, for Kyle, for you.

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That's why it was the only way.

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Yes, he did try to get out of

it in the garden, but it was

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the only way for us to be saved.

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My God, my God.

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Eloy, Eloy lama sub and

then John 19, verse 28.

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He's almost dead.

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And so he can barely say anything

and he raises himself up on the

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cross and he says, I thirst.

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And what does that say to us?

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He was human.

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He wasn't Superman on the

cross, not feeling it.

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He felt it all for you and me.

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That's how much God loves

us this morning, folks.

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And then he finally said, it's finished.

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All these naysayers have tried to

get me to come down from the cross.

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Satan has tried to get me

to come down from the cross.

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I have wanted to come down from

the cross, but I, I've done it.

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I've survived all the temptation and

all the evil and all my own fears and

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my own humanity, and I've trusted God.

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And now it is finished.

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Death is finished, sin is

finished, evil is finished.

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It's over.

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God's gained the victory, it's finished.

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So Father, take me Father into your hands.

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I release my spirit.

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Those seven things tell me that you

and I need to celebrate Easter today.

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Amen.

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Every one of us, we fit in one of those

categories this morning, and I reread

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this book, the Final Words, uh, by a

fellow by the name of Adam Hamilton.

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And, uh, uh, he goes into great depth.

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I just give this to you as a

reference and, uh, if you'll, y'all

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help me with the slides there.

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My clicker's, uh, got a demon in it,

so I'll try to exercise it here in a

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minute, but if you'll help me yeah.

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But I reread this book this last

week just to prepare myself for that

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introduction because I want us all

to know that Jesus died on Friday for

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us, but he rose today for us as well.

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Amen.

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And it's mercy.

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Easter's about mercy.

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Mercy to the enemies.

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Mercy to the evil, mercy to the family.

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Mercy to the confused and bruised and

lonely, those screaming, why mercy to

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self, those that are thirsty in our

bodies, giving out mercy to the dying,

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the suffering, the broken and the

tired, and especially those that are

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terminally ill and on death's door.

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But today we're gonna

look at John chapter 20.

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I encourage you to turn over there

and, uh, I, uh, I have the words

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for you on the screens, and we've

got some great screens this morning.

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One even behind me.

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Amen.

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You won't be focused here,

you'll be focused there.

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And I do not do a silhouette of me.

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Okay?

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Do not please brothers.

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I beg for mercy.

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And here's where we're going this morning.

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And in this Resurrection chapter,

this is a wonderful chapter.

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You gotta embrace it.

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It talks about the empty tomb and why

it was empty in Jesus' resurrection.

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And then the witnesses, Mary and others.

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And then he appeared to disciples

and he gave him the Holy Spirit.

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And then he, he appeared to Thomas A.

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Little bit of a hard head, a little

bit stubborn like some of us men.

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All right?

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And so there's four resurrection theories,

and you've probably heard of them.

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This is review for many of you.

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But the four resurrection

theories is he didn't.

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A lot of people gnostics later on

in the, the latter part of the first

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and second century, didn't believe

that Jesus even came as a human.

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That he was a just a spirit.

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He was an emanation of

God, is how they say it.

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And he just swooned.

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It's the swoon theory.

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He really didn't die.

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He just fainted.

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And they thought he was dead.

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And even though the Romans were great

at killing people, you know, they killed

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about half the Earth at one point, right?

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At least the known world.

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They conquered the civilized world.

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But for some reason, people didn't think

that they really knew how to kill Jesus.

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But after all that torture and all

that beating and all that crucifixion,

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and then with the spear in the

side, some will still say he just

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swooned, but he did more the swoon.

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He died.

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And so others will say, well, the

Romans, they stole the body because

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they did not want Jesus to be a martyr.

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And so they didn't want his.

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The place he was buried and they

didn't want him to be worship,

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and so they stole the body.

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But if you think about that logically,

that doesn't make any sense.

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Because when they said he was

resurrected, when the disciples and

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the Christians started claiming his

resurrection, what would they have done?

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They had revealed the body.

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These guys, they're liars.

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They're liars.

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Here's the body.

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Here's Jesus right here.

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They didn't do that.

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And so then others said the

Jews stole the body again.

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Why wouldn't the Jews revealed

the body at just the right time

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to prove that it was all false?

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And then they said, well, these sneaky

disciples, you know, they were so smart.

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You can just read the New Testament.

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See how brilliant they were.

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Some people are laughing it,

it was meant to be a joke.

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Yeah.

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All right.

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No, they were normal folks.

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Fishermen, they were normal like us.

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A few of the smarter ones came along

later, Luke and Paul and others, but.

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They didn't steal the body.

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And how I know that is somebody

always squeals, at least in my

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neighborhood, that's how it was.

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Just, at least in my family,

one of us would squeal.

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It was usually Sam.

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My daughter was wondering who, who?

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Uncle Sam.

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'cause he was the good one.

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All right?

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Three of us weren't so good.

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One.

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Sam was good.

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And he's an elder in the church now.

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He'll probably watch this,

so I'm glad I said that.

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Amen.

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But somebody would've told the truth.

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Somebody would've had a conscience,

somebody would admit it.

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They stole the body.

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Nobody did.

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They went to death as martyrs for Jesus.

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So I believe with all my heart that

Jesus tomb on that Easter morning

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and this Easter morning, and every

Easter morning since has been empty.

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Okay.

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And a book that I want to

encourage you to read is this one.

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I read it as a sophomore in

college and it changed my life.

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It's not too big.

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Neither of these books are very big.

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All right.

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And, uh, it's Who Moved the Stone

by a man named Frank Morrison.

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He goes through it much more

in depth than I just did.

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It goes through all these theories

and other logical, plausible, uh,

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explanations, and it definitely convinced

me, uh, that Jesus is resurrected.

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So into the verse, into the text,

John chapter 20 in verse one.

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Let's read together.

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Okay, there we go.

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Early on the first day of the week,

while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene

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went to the tomb and saw that the stone

had been removed from the entrance.

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Now, I haven't done

any empirical research.

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I haven't read any

empirical research, but.

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My heart, soul, and mind.

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And maybe 'cause I just love my

mama so much, but I think women

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are more spiritual than men.

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What do you think women,

men, you can't answer.

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Right?

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You think women are more spiritual?

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I think so.

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Here's evidence right here.

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Who was the first to the tomb?

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Mary Magdalene maybe.

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'cause she'd been forgiven much.

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She loved much.

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But sometimes I don't know about you,

but women are more in touch with things.

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They see it.

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I'm a little slow on the uptake.

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You know, I see the wind

blowing after it's blown.

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But women are intuitive and they have

that, that that women's intuition and

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that instinct, at least my mother did.

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I thought she had eyes in the

back of her head, you know?

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Because she could be driving

and she knew just which one

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of us flicked the other one.

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All right.

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She knew who was acting up.

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So Mary is the first to the tomb,

and you know, let's keep reading.

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In verse six, it says,

oh, other direction.

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Here we go.

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Then Simon Peter, who had was behind

him, this is, uh, uh, Peter and John had

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had a race to the tomb after Mary came

back and said that the tomb was empty.

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Uh, then Simon Peter, who was behind

him, arrived and went into the tomb.

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He saw the strips of linen laying

there and well, as well as the barrel

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cloth that had been around Jesus' head.

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The cloth was full folded up by

itself, separate from the linen.

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Finally, the other disciple who had

reached the tomb first, this is John.

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He always speaks in third person.

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He's like, he sees himself as, uh.

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Um, pretty famous or something.

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I don't know.

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Yeah.

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He, he refers to himself in the book

of John, without naming himself, he

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says, he described himself as the one

that Jesus loved the most, the beloved.

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All right.

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And now you know why he left

his name off, all right.

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Who had reached the tomb first, also

went inside and he saw and believed, so

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what's the evidence of the resurrection?

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The empty tomb.

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The linen cloths there.

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Here's the first three

witnesses, John, Peter, and Mary.

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And then Jesus appears again to

marry, and she gives him this big hug.

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But let's read the story.

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Beginning of verse 15, woman.

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He said, why are you crying?

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Who is it you're looking for?

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Thinking He was the gardener.

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Now, this was not flattering to Jesus.

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I mean, Isaiah says that he wasn't.

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You know, incredibly handsome, but

I don't think he was that plain.

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All right, but she doesn't

recognize him because why?

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Sometimes we don't have eyes to see.

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She probably wasn't looking for Jesus.

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She was looking for the tomb.

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She was looking for the body, but

she wasn't looking for the miracle.

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Easter tells us about the

greatest miracle in the world.

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Yeah.

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Thinking he was the gardener.

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She said, sir, if you have carried

him away, tell him where you

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have put him and I will get him.

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Jesus said to her, Mary, she

turned toward him and cried in air.

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Make Rob teacher anytime.

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Our name is called, we

pay attention, don't we?

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Yes.

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Mary.

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Somehow, some way that he said it.

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She had heard it spoken

just that way before.

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Maybe he had comforted to her when

she was crying over her shame.

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Maybe he had given her a promise

that she's completely forgiven.

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Mary, stop beating yourself up.

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You're forgiven.

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Let it go.

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But when he said her name, just the way

he had said it before she recognized

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him, I pray with all my heart that you

hear your name from the lips of Jesus.

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And I believe you can.

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I believe you can in prayer.

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I believe you can.

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As you're reading your

Bible, I, I believe you can.

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As you're sitting on the.

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See shore watching the waves come in.

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I believe that God is always

trying to reach out to us.

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It says in Acts 17 that he wants to

connect to us, that he's among us.

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He's right here all the time

reaching out, you know, and

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he's probably saying your name.

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I'm glad I have a simple name, Greg.

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Sometimes my mother would change the

intonation of it when I was in trouble.

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Greg,

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you know, our brothers

used to make fun of it.

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Gra egg.

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I'm not a Gregory.

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You probably gathered that

from my speaking already.

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All right.

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My parents weren't that sophisticated.

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Uh, they, uh, they didn't finish.

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College.

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They were just very hardworking,

wonderful Midwest people.

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And uh, so all of us have just sort of

these southern names, Jody, Charles,

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Sammy, John, Philip, Neil, and Greg.

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And I'm not telling you my middle name.

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All

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that's ornery, but I just can't do it.

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We don't know each other that well.

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Verse 17, let's keep going.

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Jesus says to Mary, do not hold on to me.

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She must have been holding on very,

very tight, even to the point of

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where Jesus got uncomfortable.

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Mary, don't hold on for I have

not yet returned to the Father.

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Go and instead to my brothers

and tell them I'm returning

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to my Father and your Father.

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And to my God and your God.

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I know you wanna hold on.

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I know you love, you've lost me once.

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I know I, I died right in front of you.

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I know it broke your heart,

but now's not the time.

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Don't hold on.

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Keep trusting in faith.

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Hold on to your faith.

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Don't hold on to me physically.

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Hold on to what I taught you.

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Hold on to the Father,

your God and my God.

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And sometimes we hold on to the

wrong things and Mary thought

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she'd found the right thing.

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Right.

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And she had in that sense.

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But sometimes you gotta let

things go to get 'em back.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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Those of us that are parents

have learned that, haven't we?

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And he goes on in verse 18,

says, Mary Magdalene went to

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the disciples with the news.

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I've seen the Lord.

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And she told them that

he had said these things.

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:

Tour and we know that at first it

was a little bit difficult for 'em

402

:

to believe, but then they believed.

403

:

Then verse 19, and on the evening

of that first day of the week, when

404

:

the disciples were together with the

doors locked for fear of the Jews,

405

:

Jesus came and stood among them, and

I want to emphasize what he said.

406

:

Peace be with you.

407

:

You know, I know on a Easter

service, there's a lot of

408

:

us that are seeking peace.

409

:

We sometimes wear our new

Easter colored shirts.

410

:

We wear our Sunday best,

we put on our Sunday smile.

411

:

We try to comb our hair,

412

:

but inside we're not always at

peace, are we In this world?

413

:

Jesus said, you'll have trouble.

414

:

Right.

415

:

And I don't know about you,

but the troubles has seemed to

416

:

increase the older I've gotten.

417

:

Maybe I just was oblivious in

denial when I was younger, but

418

:

Satan seems to be on the war path.

419

:

Yeah.

420

:

He seems to be hurting

people I love and you love.

421

:

He seems to be making more and

more people sick and suffering.

422

:

There seems to be more, war, seems

to be more conflict, more people

423

:

that don't seem to get along.

424

:

More prejudice, more hatred,

more evil, more crime.

425

:

I don't know, maybe I'm just

paying more attention now, but

426

:

I think the world needs peace.

427

:

How about that?

428

:

Isn't that what we come

together for and celebrate that

429

:

Jesus is the prince of peace.

430

:

Yes.

431

:

Amen.

432

:

Amen.

433

:

And then moving on.

434

:

From verse 19, he says in verse

21, again, Jesus said, peace be

435

:

with you as the Father has sent me.

436

:

I'm sending you.

437

:

And with that, he breathed on them.

438

:

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't

like people invading my personal space.

439

:

When people breathe on me, I'm

like, okay, let's step back a step.

440

:

I'm friendly too, but not that friendly.

441

:

I'm only married to one person.

442

:

Kathy, she can have that space.

443

:

We'll, we'll share some air, but let's

not you and me share air, all right?

444

:

There's enough air to go around.

445

:

Amen.

446

:

Amen.

447

:

But it's the Ruah.

448

:

The ruah of the the, the

Dset, the Holy Spirit.

449

:

It's the breath of life.

450

:

It's the breath of God

that he breathes Donna.

451

:

And he says to him,

receive the Holy Spirit.

452

:

And if you forgive anyone his sins,

then they are forgiven and you

453

:

do not forgive them their sins.

454

:

They won't be forgiven because

forgiveness is in Jesus' name.

455

:

So listen to these blessings

that Jesus gave people first.

456

:

He wanted to give us

peace when he resurrected.

457

:

So that's what he wants for

each and every one of you.

458

:

All you beautiful college

students and teens over here.

459

:

All right?

460

:

All you beautiful older singles and mature

people back here, all you older legacy

461

:

people here in the middle, all right?

462

:

And all the real friendly

people in the back.

463

:

That's where I like to sit too,

so I can see everybody, all right?

464

:

He wants to give us peace and he

wants to give us his Holy Spirit.

465

:

Why?

466

:

Because Galatians tell me if I

have the spirit, and Romans chapter

467

:

seven and eight says, if I have

the Spirit, I have the same power

468

:

that raised Jesus from the dead.

469

:

Most Christians I know.

470

:

I have to convince that you can do it.

471

:

You can do it.

472

:

You can live the Christian life.

473

:

You can overcome that sin.

474

:

You can be a different person.

475

:

You can be everything you want to be.

476

:

It's not in the army.

477

:

If you find that it's in the church,

you find that you can be all you wanna

478

:

be with the Holy Spirit, all right?

479

:

And it's this power that defeated all

evil, all the demons, all the sin.

480

:

It's living within me.

481

:

It's just a matter of tapping into that.

482

:

And that's a lifelong pursuit of how

to tap into it and how to use it.

483

:

But you got the power.

484

:

You've got the power

already as a Christian.

485

:

And you have the ability to

share that power with other

486

:

people the same way you got it.

487

:

You share it with other people

and they can be forgiven of sin

488

:

because Jesus died for them as well.

489

:

This is gospel folks.

490

:

Easter sermons are the easiest to

preach 'cause it's just about good news.

491

:

It's just about gospel.

492

:

It's about the good stuff.

493

:

It's not the bad stuff.

494

:

See, if you had to come Friday, we'd had

to tell you what a sinner you are and

495

:

how much Jesus's needed to die for you.

496

:

But today you're not a sinner.

497

:

You're forgiven.

498

:

Amen.

499

:

All right, you're forgiven.

500

:

Clap.

501

:

There you go, sister.

502

:

Just 'cause nobody claps with you.

503

:

Amen.

504

:

There you go.

505

:

That's gospel.

506

:

That's good news.

507

:

But then there's always a Thomas Thomas

called Dimus, which means he was a twin.

508

:

So there were two Thomases.

509

:

Oh Mercy.

510

:

One of the 12.

511

:

Was not with the

disciples when Jesus came.

512

:

So the other disciples told

him, we have seen the Lord.

513

:

But he said to them, unless I see

the nail marks in his hands and put

514

:

my fingers where the nails were and

put my hand into his side, I will not

515

:

believe he was a critical thinker.

516

:

He was an analytical person.

517

:

He was a humanist.

518

:

He was empiricist.

519

:

He had, it had to be proven to him.

520

:

Well be careful when you challenge God.

521

:

'cause he might just

take up that challenge.

522

:

He might just take it up.

523

:

Verse 26, let's keep going.

524

:

Week later, his disciples were in the

house again and Thomas was with them.

525

:

Though the doors were locked,

Jesus came and stood among them

526

:

and said, what'd he say again?

527

:

He just had one refrain.

528

:

Peace be with you if, if you met Jesus

today, folks, he'd say, peace be with you,

529

:

be the first thing he'd wanna say to you.

530

:

'cause he knows what we need.

531

:

Then he said to Thomas, okay,

Thomas, put your finger right here.

532

:

Ooh, I don't want to touch you.

533

:

Put it right here.

534

:

Thomas.

535

:

Look at my hands.

536

:

Look at where the nails went in.

537

:

Thomas, I heard you.

538

:

You didn't think I heard, but I heard you.

539

:

I heard you scoff at me.

540

:

I heard you doubt.

541

:

I heard you didn't believe

that I was resurrected.

542

:

Put your finger here.

543

:

See my hands.

544

:

Reach out your hand and put it in my side.

545

:

Stop doubting and believe.

546

:

Thomas said to him, my Lord and my God.

547

:

And I don't know

everybody in the audience.

548

:

I don't know where, where

you're at spiritually.

549

:

You're obviously good hearted and good

looking, Southern California people.

550

:

Or you would be here.

551

:

But there's probably a little bit of

Thomas in some of us, a little bit

552

:

of Thomas that just needs to stop

your questioning and doubting and

553

:

defensiveness and open up your heart

and let God speak to you and give you

554

:

peace, and give you power, and give you

encouragement, most of all give you love.

555

:

Amen.

556

:

You know, as religious people, we

haven't always conveyed the true message,

557

:

and the true message is from God.

558

:

I love you.

559

:

God wants to say to you this

morning, you're my beloved.

560

:

Just as much as I love my one and

only begotten son, one and only

561

:

beloved son, you're my beloved son.

562

:

You're my beloved daughter.

563

:

The cross, the bear and

resurrection of Jesus is God's

564

:

way, cosmic way, universal way.

565

:

Eternal way of saying, I love you.

566

:

Amen.

567

:

Amen.

568

:

And you, I love,

569

:

you know, whenever you get that into

your heart, it changes everything.

570

:

Ornery, ornery, people change.

571

:

We're gonna have some cardboard

confessions after this in a moment,

572

:

and we're gonna show you one side

of our sign of what we used to

573

:

be before we were Christians.

574

:

And we're gonna turn it around and

show you what at least we think.

575

:

We think we are now.

576

:

And one of the, the associate

ministers, Marcel, is.

577

:

Made me do it, so I'll be up

there in line too, the lineup.

578

:

All right, my Lord and my God.

579

:

Verse 29, let's close out.

580

:

Then Jesus told him, because you've seen

me, you've believed, blessed that are

581

:

those who have not seen and yet believe.

582

:

That's you and me.

583

:

Folks.

584

:

Jesus performed many other signs in

the presence of his disciples, which

585

:

are not recorded in this book, but

these are written that you may believe

586

:

that Jesus is who the Messiah, the Son

of God, and on believing you may have

587

:

abundant life in his name, just like the

centurion at the crucifixion of Jesus.

588

:

He said, seeing what had happened,

he prays God and said, surely this

589

:

is a righteous man in this church.

590

:

We confess our faith.

591

:

Over and over.

592

:

It's become a habit.

593

:

Now, in our, in my sermons is to ask

the congregation, because of Easter,

594

:

because of the resurrection of Jesus

Christ, we believe these two things.

595

:

We believe that Jesus Christ is the son

of God, that he's divine, that he's the

596

:

communicate, the bridge between us and God

the mediator, the one and only mediator,

597

:

and that Jesus is Lord, that he has power.

598

:

And so I, I, I plead with all of you.

599

:

If you can say it, say it.

600

:

If you can't think about it, all right?

601

:

But let's say it together.

602

:

Say it with me.

603

:

Jesus Christ is the son of God.

604

:

In the second, Jesus is Lord.

605

:

That's gospel.

606

:

That's the message of Easter, and

that's a sermon for you this morning.

607

:

Amen.

608

:

I'm gonna say a prayer before we

take a communion here in OC Church.

609

:

We take a communion every Sunday.

610

:

Not all churches do, but we're

sinners and we need to every week.

611

:

That was a joke, but it's true too.

612

:

All but we do.

613

:

We take it every week because we

believe it is so fundamental to

614

:

our faith that gospel, the death

bear and resurrection of Jesus.

615

:

This is a sacred ritual that we take

here in the OC Church, and I'm gonna

616

:

play pray for these symbols and for

these emblems, and then we invite you

617

:

to take of communion with the Lord.

618

:

Let's pray our great God and

Father, we bow before you now on

619

:

this resurrection morning, claiming

that the tomb was empty because

620

:

you conquered death conquered evil.

621

:

Conquered sin.

622

:

Father, we love you with all our hearts.

623

:

We wanna love you back.

624

:

You've given us every good

and perfect gift that we have.

625

:

You've been such a wonderful, merciful,

faithful God, and as we remember the

626

:

death bear and resurrection now as

we take of this small piece of bread,

627

:

this emblem of the body of Christ, we

pray that we'd remember that He hung

628

:

there for us, for our forgiveness and

for our salvation, for our future.

629

:

And as we take of this juice, we pray

that we could remember that our souls are

630

:

cleansed, that though they may have been

as scarlet, now they are white as snow,

631

:

that Father, the blood of Jesus cleanses

us continually, not just once, but always,

632

:

constantly to be righteous in your sight.

633

:

Our righteousness comes from

you because you're so good.

634

:

We pray that you bless

this moment in Jesus' name.

635

:

Amen.

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