Alleluia Christ Is Risen

It is Easter... The day that we celebrate the resurrection ... of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A time when Alleluias fill the air: Beloved ... You know the response:

Alleluia Christ is Risen...... (Pause) The Lord is Risen in Deed Alleluia.

There is a story that I love so well ... that speaks to the amazement... of that first Easter Day.

A Sunday School teacher had just finished telling her third graders ... how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb ...... with a great stone sealing the opening.

Then, ...... wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: ....... "And what do you think were Jesus' first words ... when He came out of that tomb?"

A little girl in the back of the room shot her arm into the air ... and leaped to her feet and shouted excitedly ....... "I know, I know!"

"Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, Janey .... what did he say."

Extending both of her arms high into the air she said: "TA-DA!" (Pause)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was indeed for the world ...... a "TA-DA".

It has touched the lives of countless believers .... throughout the ages.

Yes, ...... "TA DA" ... Christ is Risen (Pause)

On Easter day ... Christ came out of the tomb and into our lives ...... with power and victory.

The gospel of the resurrection ... is an indisputable fact, ...... an indispensable faith, ...... and an irresistible force.

We have hope ... through the resurrection.

Yet often that hope ...... is not fully realized ... until we come face to face .... With the reality.... of our own ... mortality. (Pause)

Beloved ... we are not in the land of the living ...... going to the land of the dying. We are in the land of the dying ...... trying to get to ...... the land of the living". REPEAT

Many ask the ancient question ... that Job asked so long ago: ......"If a man dies, shall he live again?" REPEAT (Job 14:14)

That is One of the most important questions ...... that we could ever ask, ......for life ...... is our most precious possession.

Jesus said, ...... " For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world ... and forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36).

So ...... If a man dies, ... shall he live again?

It is not until we have confidence ...... of living beyond the grave...... that this life ...... will take on...... ultimate meaning ... and purpose.

Our Text from Corinthians state: BIBLE " If in Christ we have hope for this life only, .... we are of all people ...... to be pitied." END 1 Corinthians 15:19

The longer you live, .... the more you realize ......that life is moving ... so very quickly.

And the end is futile ...... if there is no hope ...... beyond the grave.

Beloved ....... The good news is ...... that the resurrection of Jesus Christ ....... provides answers ...... to the question ... of life after death.

In John Masefield's drama ...... The Trial of Jesus, ...... there is a striking passage ... in which the Roman centurion ... in command of the soldiers at the cross ... comes back to Pilate ... to hand in his report ... of the day's work.

After the report is given, ... Pilate's wife beckons to the centurion ...... and begs him to tell ... how the

prisoner died.

When he finished telling the story, she suddenly asks, ...... "Do you think He is dead?"

"No, my lady" answers the centurion, ..."I do not."

Then where is He?"

To which the Roman replies, ...... "Let loose in the world, my lady, ... where no one ...... can stop His truth."

If a man dies, ... shall he live again?

Is there life after death?

The answer is an emphatic and glorious yes, ... and the resurrection of Jesus Christ ... is the proof.

The Old Testament Scriptures ...... prophesied that the Messiah ... was going to die.

That he would be led like a sheep ...... to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53:7)

So Jesus' death ... was not the accidental death.... of a martyr.

It was the deliberate death ...of a person who offered His life ...... as a sacrifice.

Our heavenly Father, ...... in his tender mercy, ...... gave his only Son .... Jesus Christ ...... to suffer death upon the cross ... for our redemption.

He offered himself and made, ...... once for all time, ...... a perfect and sufficient sacrifice ...... for the sins ...... of the whole world. (Pause)

A woman wrote Dr. J. Vernon McGee: ... "Our preacher said that on Easter, ....... Jesus just swooned on the cross .......and that the disciples ... nursed Him back to health.