"Christ The Victor" Series

We experience a peace which transcends whatever mess may be happening around us, and a joy that makes no earthly sense.

We are also given the strength, the conviction and the motivation to move forward into a future that isn't anywhere near as bleak as what we had seen before.

Knowing that Jesus Christ has the final word gives us courage when we face the problems of this life.

And that knowledge of Jesus does not call us to hide in a room.

It doesn't lead us to bury our heads and say we don't care about what is happening in our world.

Instead we are able to face these things with hope, great courage, and a faith and love which enables others to hear and see the Resurrected Christ in their midst.

Someone once said, "Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing."

After years of trying to have children, a man named Jerry and his wife finally brought a little girl into this world.

Then, months later, Jerry was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

But Jerry had a remarkable faith in the midst of it.

He said, "I know God doesn't give us cancer. This is simply part of life.

Of course I am praying to be made well.

That is my desire.

But even more than my own healing, I am praying that somehow, in the midst of my battle with cancer, the glory of God might be revealed in my life."

"I know that Christ has risen; and because He lives, I will live."

Do you have that kind of confidence this morning?

Do you have that kind of faith, that kind of hope?

If not, are you willing to wait patiently amidst the chaos, to enter into the pain and despair of life and listen for the voice of God?

At first, Mary thought Jesus was the gardener...

...which is what the first human being, Adam, was.

She thought Jesus was just another ordinary guy.

But when Jesus called Mary's name she saw that this "supposed" gardener was really the "last Adam" Who had come to restore that which was lost.

And He became a "life-giving Spirit" as Paul calls Him in 1 Corinthians 15:45, a "life-giving Spirit" Who breathes new life into all who will believe.

And as everyone who come to believe or who are converted are called to do Mary left to tell the world: "I've seen the Lord."

In His Resurrection Jesus raised, as well, a scorned woman, looked down on by both men and women, and perhaps sometimes by the disciples, to a place of honor.

She was the first to see Jesus after His Resurrection and the first to tell others.

Remember that, when Jesus was born, it was the lowly shepherds who were commissioned to be Jesus' first evangelists, now we have a lowly woman after His Resurrection.

What can Christ do with you?

What will Christ do with you once You see Him and believe?

What will the future look like?

As Mary and millions who have come after her have found out...

...the Resurrection isn't just some doctrine or dogma about Jesus.

The Resurrection is an ongoing victorious life with Jesus which has no end.

Praise God.

Amen.