Power of the Resurrection

Changed Lives

•         Romans 1:4    

Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead:

Jesus Christ our Lord

Time-line of first Easter Sunday

1. Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb, (John20:1-2).
2. Peter and John ran to the tomb.
3. Peter charges into the tomb for a closer look, and John follows. (John 20:4-8)

–        Stone gone              

–        Guards gone

–        Jesus missing

Time-line of first Easter Sunday

•         Severe earthquake occurs.

•         Angel of the Lord appears and rolls away the stone.

•         Guards shake for fear and become “as dead men” and the run to the authorities and told to lie about the morning’s events.

Time-line of first Easter Sunday

•         Mary Magdalene and others come to the tomb with spices.

•         The angel calms the women and tells them to tell the disciples.

•         Women run with great joy to find the disciples.

•         The younger John out runs Peter to the tomb.

•         Time-line of first Easter Sunday

•         Peter rushes past John into the tomb and sees the linen wrappings.

•         Mary weeps and looks into the tomb and sees 2 angels.

•         Mary turns and sees Jesus, mistaking him for the gardener.

•         While clinging to Jesus, He tells her that He must go the Father.

Implications

•         Common words to describe first Easter—perplexed; amazed; disbelief; weeping—a full range of emotions.

•         Jesus, the powerfully resurrected One, is in control.

Changed lives

•         10 of the 11 disciples were martyred for their faith.

•         Explosive growth of the church.

•         Beginning of the Lord’s Day as the day of worship for the Christians.

Changed lives—James

•         Acts 12:2

•         Killed by a sword in Jerusalem by the order of King Herod

•         Only one recorded in New Testament

Changed lives—Peter

•         Denied the Lord 3x.

•         Acts 4:20 – preached to the same crowded that crucified Jesus.

•          “God raised up Jesus—the man you nailed to the cross.” Acts 2:25-27

•         Under the rule of Emperor Nero, Peter requested that he be crucified upside down.

Changed lives—Matthew

•         Martyred in Ethiopia

•         Sword wound

Changed lives—John

•         Tradition records that John miraculously a boiling vat of oil.

•         At 90 years of age, John was banished to the island of Patmos

Changed lives—James Alphaeus

•         Thrown 100 feet down from the pinnacle of the temple.

•         Then James was beaten to death with a blacksmith’s tool.

Changed lives--Andrew

•         Crucified in Greece.

•         First he was whipped

•         Tied to axe-shaped cross for 2 days.

•         Preached for 2 days from that cross.

Changed lives--Thomas

•         Died as a missionary to India.

•         A spear wound killed him

Changed lives--Paul

•         Tortured and beheaded by Nero in AD 67.

•          “In particular, he had some sewed up in skins of wild beasts, and then worried by dogs until they expired; and others dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to axletrees, and set on fire in his gardens, in order to illuminate them. This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman Empire; but it rather increased than diminished the spirit of Christianity. In the course of it, St. Paul and St. Peter were martyred.”

Changed lives--Philip

•         In the city of Hierapolis, Philip was hanged against a pillar

Changed lives--Bartholomew

•         Skinned alive

Changed lives--Jude

•         Shot to death with arrows

Changed lives--Matthias

•         First stoned and then beheaded

Changed lives--Mark

•         Died in Alexandria, Egypt after being dragged through the city.

Application

•         These men obeyed the risen Jesus by going to “all” the world.

•         Men like this do not die for a “lie”

•         These men received resurrection power.

Application

•         The disciples were transformed by a deeply rooted desire to surrender to His authority.

•         Implications of Easter

•         This is the meaning of discipleship--Do I willingly surrender – submit for a lifetime - every aspect of my life?

•          “early Christians consisted of ‘persecution above ground and prayer below ground.’"

Earliest Christians in Rome

•         Both pagans and Christians buried their dead in these catacombs. When the Christian graves have been opened the skeletons tell their own terrible tale. Heads are found severed from the body, ribs and shoulder blades are broken, bones are often calcified from fire.

Earliest Christians in Rome

"Here lies Marcia, put to rest in a dream of peace."

"Lawrence to his sweetest son, borne away of angels."

"Victorious in peace and in Christ."

"Being called away, he went in peace.”