A Hope and a Future (Matthew 28:1-7)
Gary McManus, 04/12/2020Part of the Easter series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
April 12, 2020 Easter Sunday
A Hope and a Future Matthew 28:1-7
The celebration of Easter=celebrating the resurrection. . .the gift of eternal life. . .
demonstrated, proven, proved, and offered by
God the Father through Jesus Christ Messiah,
God’s son.
Almost everyone believes in the resurrection.
Or, at least, almost everyone believes in an afterlife
and most people believe in an afterlife in heaven.
First, can we be on the same page about
THE resurrection of Jesus.
The tomb was empty. The message was
Jesus is risen as he said.
Jesus said it all about this.
The disciples couldn’t hear it.
Jesus even referenced the Bible/
Old Testament (Matthew 26:24, Matthew 26:56)
The tomb was empty (sealed stone moved).
Jesus was not revived, Jesus was resurrected.
(Just as Jesus had said: Matthew 17:12, Matthew 17:22, Matthew 20:18, Matthew 20:28 Matthew 26:2, Matthew 26:24)
Other people, Jesus resuscitated and healed (or healed and resuscitated). They would die again.
Jesus was resurrected to life eternal.
For the followers of Jesus,
Jesus’ resurrection is a hope and a future.
(Romans 6:4, Acts 5:20)
Few people, including believers,
actually believe in hell.
Disconnect: Jesus spoke about hell
more than anyone else.
Not everyone wants to go to heaven.
The Lord is not going to force heaven on anyone.
Almost everyone believes in an afterlife and most
people believe in an afterlife in heaven.
The Bible does not say that, right?
Jesus and Paul were talking about heaven for people who follow Jesus. Jesus said “Follow me.”
(See Matthew 10:38, Matthew 16:24 and Matthew 19:21)
“. . .AND FOLLOW ME.”
Have you watched “The Good Place”?
The point of Matthew’s gospel book –
there can’t be any questions about heaven that
aren’t about Jesus.
See 1 Corinthians 15 especially and
Romans 10:9, Romans 10:10, Romans 10:13,
also Acts 2:21, Acts 2:38-39)
The churches that follow Jesus in Jesus’ name
offer to any and all eternal life to any and all
who call upon Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Talk to Jesus about it all.
Jesus is risen, just as Jesus said. (Matthew 28:6)
Amen.
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