Sunday April 16th

John 20:3-16

                 Sunday is here and the tomb is empty!  Praise God, He has risen from the dead!  But these were not the thoughts of Mary when she arrived at the tomb.  It’s clear that she thought that the Romans or the Pharisees had come and taken His body away.  It wasn’t until she saw and held the resurrected Jesus that she was convinced.  Jesus would later say to Thomas, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

                 Have faith, Christ is risen!  Each of these disciples eventually saw the risen Christ (along with over 500 other believers)!  Not one of them were willing to recant their belief in Jesus as the Messiah, even as they faced death.  No one willingly dies for a lie.  If the resurrection of Christ was indeed a lie, then these men would revealed it.  Even as they were martyred for their faith, they stood tall.  They were stoned, crucified, beheaded, burned at the stake, torn apart by animals, and exiled to remote and unknown parts.  Yet these men never denied that Jesus was the Messiah.  If not true, they would never have kept up the lie!

                  Today, we celebrate a risen and victorious Savior!!  I pray that you will join us as we worship Him this morning!

Pastor Paul Beam

Events of Sunday:

*Some women arrive at Jesus’s tomb before dawn
(Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-3; Luke 24:1; John 20:1)

*Mary and the women are met by two angels
(Matthew 28:2-7; Mark 16:4-7; Luke 24:2-7)

*The women leave fearful and joyful; inform the disciples
(Matthew 28:8-10; Mark 16:18; Luke 24:8-11; John 20:2)

*Peter and John rush to the tomb and find it empty
(Luke 24:12; John 20:3-10)

*Jesus appears to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus
(Luke 24:13-35)

*Jesus appears to the 10 (minus Thomas) in a house with locked doors
(Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-23)