Living A Resurrected Hope (Living Hope) Resurrection Sunday

Intro:

Good morning and welcome to our Resurrection Sunday as we celebrate our Lord Jesus’ resurrection. This is the first time after 2 years of pandemic that we are gathered here today to celebrate God’s goodness. For some this season is their time to enjoy vacation with their families and friends. For other manufacturing and transportation companies, this time is for their annual maintenance of their machines. For many this is the time to relax for a while and contemplate the busyness of work after 2 years of restriction staying at home.

But for Christians, what could the resurrection of Jesus means to all of us? Others may have compromised their faith to festivities in celebrating this season by celebrating “Easter” as they called this Sunday as “Easter” Sunday. This Easter is a pagan worship of Ashtoreth, Semiramis, and Astarte all considered as pagan gods. It has this activity to find these Easter eggs with many colors while the children are busy finding them.

But is this the real meaning of the resurrection of Jesus to us? What God wants is that for all of us who understands the importance of this season must live with its true meaning. Today let us know how to live a resurrected hope with Jesus.

Living a Resurrected Hope

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of who are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

ASND

3 Sapagkat ibinigay ko sa inyo ang pinakamahalagang aral na ibinigay sa akin: Na si Cristo'y namatay upang iligtas tayo sa ating mga kasalanan, ayon sa Kasulatan. 4 Inilibing siya ngunit muling nabuhay sa ikatlong araw, ayon din sa Kasulatan. 5 Nagpakita siya kay Pedro, at sa iba pang 12 apostol. 6 Pagkatapos, nagpakita rin siya sa mahigit 500 na mga kapatid na nagkakatipon. Karamihan sa kanila'y buhay pa hanggang ngayon, ngunit ang ilan sa kanila ay patay na. 7 Nagpakita rin siya kay Santiago, at pagkatapos sa lahat ng apostol. 8 At sa kahuli-hulihan ay nagpakita rin siya sa akin. Ang katulad ko'y isang sanggol na ipinanganak nang wala sa panahon dahil biglaan ang aking pagkakilala sa kanya.

For Apostle Paul, the most important lesson to learn about Christianity is that Jesus died and was buried and after 3 days He rose again from the grave and show Himself to His apostle and to other believers as well and lastly to Paul. This is the very foundation of our Christian faith. This is the very mission why God sent His Son only to be bruised and die on the cross with all the burden of sins of this world, be buried for 3 days and then He was back so everybody may believe for those who saw Him.

Now this is the message of all the Apostles that time to spread the Good News that Jesus is alive and has risen from the grave.

Acts 4:33 “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.”

ASND “Patuloy ang paggawa ng mga apostol ng mga kamangha-manghang gawa bilang patunay na ang Panginoong Jesus ay talagang nabuhay muli. At lubusang pinagpala ng Dios ang lahat ng mga mananampalataya.”

This is the very reason why we need to understand the reason of His resurrection so that we may continue to testify and live with the risen hope of Jesus. We need the power of His resurrection over us! So how are we going to live with His resurrected hope?

We need to live a life that will show…

1. Assurance. (buhay may katiyakan)

Because Jesus has risen from the dead, we are assured of His salvation, our inheritance and our rewards in heaven.

1 Peter 1:3-5

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Apostle Peter who has a personal dealing with Jesus after His resurrection exhorted us an assurance that we have this living hope that will bring us a new birth, a new start, a great reset of our lives.