Bible Truths
- We are sinners who need a Savior. (Week 13)
- God wants a relationship with us. (Week 15)
- Jesus came to earth as a man. (Week 16)
- Jesus is powerful and has power over death. (Week 29)
- Christ died for all sinners. (Week 30)
- God raised Jesus from the dead.
- Those who believe in Jesus will one day live with Him forever.
Bible Verse
“Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.
Mark 16:6 NLT
Focus
This week we celebrate Resurrection Sunday or Easter. Good Friday was a very dark day for the followers of Jesus. Jesus died. It seemed as if they had been wrong about Jesus. Or at least until Sunday . . .
Day 1
Day 2
Read John’s account of Resurrection Sunday.
1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.
John 20:21-10 NLT
In the Gospel of John, John uses the phrase the disciple whom Jesus loved to refer to himself.
Read verse 9 again. What does he say? That’s right it is says they hadn’t fully understood the Scriptures. The resurrection had been predicted by prophets and by Jesus.
Day 3
Today we are going to read the account of when Mary Magdalene saw Jesus.
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
John 20:11-18 NLT
Day 4
Watch the video Love Ran Red. Please read the lyrics and think about them as you watch the video.
Day 5
They did not expect to find an empty tomb. This shows that the resurrection stories cannot be the product of wishful thinking; they were not even expecting that it could happen.
As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.
Luke 24:4 NLT
Matthew 27:65-66 reminds us that soldiers guarded the tomb.
65 Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you can.” 66 So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.
The stone could not have been rolled away by the disciples. they could not defeat the armed guards. Roman guards could be killed by their officers if a prisoner escaped or thieves take something. Their lives were on the line. No one else would have wanted to roll away the stone, and Matthew 28:2 tells us that it was an angel who rolled it.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.
Two men stood by them in shining clothes. Angels announced the birth of Jesus. They also announced the resurrection of Jesus. The tomb was empty! Jesus lives today and prays for us. He is preparing a place for us to live. God loves us so much that he sent his son. God loves you!
Have a blessed week and keep growing in grace.
Pastor Nate & Dee