Easter | Too Good To NOT Believe

MESSAGE: Too Good to NOT Believe

DATE: April 8 and 9, 2023

On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.  So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”  John 20:1-2

At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter, and got to the tomb first. Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself.  John 20:3-7

The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed.  John 20:8 

For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. John 20:9

Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.  John 20:10 

Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“Because they’ve taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”  John 20:11-13 

Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?”
Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.”  John 20:14-15

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.”

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.  John 20:16-18 

“…he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”  

But Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”  

John 20:20, 24-26

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.”

Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!”   John 20:27-28

 

Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”  John 20:29 

I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead… Ephesians 1:19-20

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