Summary: A message for an Easter sunrise service

I. THE EMPTY TOMB – Luke 24:1-12

II. THE ROAD TO EMMAUS – LUKE 24:13-35

A. Emmaus was about seven miles away.

B. As they communed and reasoned Jesus drew near, but they didn’t know him.

C. The disciples were:

1. Sad about the death of Jesus.

2. Disillusioned because they thought he had been the promised Messiah.

3. Hopeless because it had been three days.

4. Astonished at the words of the women who said he was alive.

D. Jesus told them what the scriptures had to say about himself.

E. They asked him to stay with them, Jesus broke bread, they recognized him, and Jesus vanished.

F. Now the disciples were:

1. No longer sad, but filled with excitement.

2. No longer disillusioned, but filled with a new understanding of the scriptures.

3. No longer hopeless, but filled with hope.

4. No longer astonished, but filled with surety that Jesus had risen.

III. THE APPEARANCE TO THE DISCIPLES – Luke 24:36-49

A. They handled him and he ate in front of them to prove he wasn’t a spirit.

B. He opened up their understanding of the scriptures.

C. “It behooved Christ to suffer and to rise” – it was an unavoidable, urgent, compulsory necessity.

D. Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name.

E. The promise of the Holy Spirit is given.

IV. THE ASCENSION – LUKE 24:50-53