"Stolen"

12 April 2009

Resurrection Sunday

U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris

Fortress Chapel

Contingency Operation Site (C.O.S.) Sykes

Tall-afar, Iraq

BIG IDEA: When Christians are rattled, worried, anxious, and disturbed - over and over again - they forget the PROMISES of GOD.

REFERENCES: Luke 8:1-2 (GNT) Some time later Jesus traveled through towns and villages, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God. The twelve disciples went with him, and so did some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (who was called Magadalene), from whom seven demons had been driven out; Matthew 28:2 (ESV) And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it; Matthew 27:66 (ESV) So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard; By Jewish reckoning, 3 days had transpired since the burial. Any part of a day was counted as a day; According to “Sacred Destinations” The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem is an alternative to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as the actual site of Jesus’ burial in Jerusalem. It was discovered in 1867 and is especially popular with Protestants as place of devotion; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 ESV (For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with eh Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with eh Scriptures, and the he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep); 1 Peter 3:18-19 ESV (For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison); John 20:1-18 (ESV) The Resurrection and the account of Jesus Appearing to Mary Magdalene; Matthew 28:11-15 (CEV) The Report of the Guard; Acts 10:34-43 (ESV) Gentiles Hear the Good News of “No Partiality from Peter; Mark 16:1-8 (ESV) The Resurrection; John 14:6 (ESV) I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; Zechariah 11:12-13 (ESV – be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver) Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter” – the lordly price at which I was priced by the. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter; Psalm 16:10 (ESV – Rise from the Dead) For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: John 20:1-10 (ESV)

II. READ THE PERICOPE: John 20:1-10 (ESV)

III. READ THE TEXT: John 20:2 (ESV) So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

IV. PURPOSE: To inspire the hearers to affirm to others that when Christians are rattled, worried, anxious, and disturbed - over and over again - they forget the PROMISES of GOD.

V. SERMONIC THEME: “STOLEN”

VI. INTRODUCTION:

He Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed! Happy Resurrection Sunday to all.

Due to situations and circumstances, have you ever temporarily forgotten the Hope that lies in the PROMISES OF GOD?

I submit to you today that when Believers are rattled, worried, anxious, and disturbed by something or someone – they often forget the PROMISES OF GOD. So, I stopped by here this Resurrection Sunday Morning to remind all of the CHRISTIANS that whatsoever God has PROMISED – He’s able also to perform. For don’t you remember the Good Book says – in Romans 4:20 – that Abraham staggered NOT at the promises of God…

It has been said that the Founder of the Protestant Reformation – Martin Luther – once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong. On the third day his wife came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes.

“Who’s dead?” he asked her. “God,” she replied. Luther scolded her, saying, “What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die.” “Well,” she replied, “the way you’ve been acting I was sure he had died!”

Likewise, as a chaplain/pastor, sometimes through my actions, (and my lack of faith in certain situations and circumstances) I have seemly forgotten the PROMISES OF GOD.