O Glorious Day

O, GLORIOUS DAY

ALL my sermons use illustrations found at www.sermoncentral.com and ALL scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted)

(This sermon was preceded by the song Glorious Day by Casting Crowns with a powerpoint slide show and puppets singing the song)

It is such a glorious day, and yet many people may not understand why.

A Sunday School teacher asked her class on the Sunday before Easter if they knew what happened on Easter and why it was so important. One little girl spoke up saying: "Easter is when the whole family gets together, and you eat turkey and sing about the pilgrims and all that." "No, that’s not it," said the teacher.

"I know what Easter is," a second student responded. "Easter is when you get a tree and decorate it and give gifts to everybody and sing lots of songs." "Nope, that’s not it either," replied the teacher.

Finally a third student spoke up, "Easter is when Jesus was killed, and put in a tomb and left for three days." "Ah, thank goodness somebody knows" the teacher thought to herself.

But then the student went on: "Then everybody gathers at the tomb and waits to see if Jesus comes out, and if he sees his shadow he has to go back inside and we have six more weeks of winter."

Some of us have some weird ideas about Easter. What does the Bible have to say about it? What’s Easter to you? What really happened? Why is it important for Christians, and what implications does Easter have for the world?

This morning we played a very special song for you that the group Casting crowns took from another song called “One Day” which you can find in your hymnal. It tells the truth about Easter in a very powerful way and this morning, using God’s Word as our guide we will look at why this truly is “Glorious Day.” First thing, let us ready the story as recorded in scripture, if you have your Bible with you this morning turn with me to: John 20:1-9 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

PRAYER

Perhaps we should not be so hard on those that do not understand why this day is such a wonderful and glorious day, the scripture says that even those that were closest to Him did not understand that the Scripture said HE MUST RISE FROM THE DEAD. But this morning, if you will allow me, I would like to take you through the whole story from the song.

One day when heaven was filled with His praises

One day when sin was as black as could be,

Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin,

Dwelt among men, my example is He

Word became flesh and the light shed among us, His glory revealed

I. LIVING, HE LOVED ME

The Gospel of John says that: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God from the beginning.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises . . the Word tells us that Jesus was with God from the beginning, He was praised and exalted by legions of angels, honored as the only son of the one true God. But meanwhile the earth was filled with the blackness of sin. Man, who had the written Word of God, who had His prophets, still did not understand that God wishes us to live with love for everyone.