The Resurrection of Our Hope

Worthy is the Lamb slain!

To You, O Lord, is given all honor and praise!

We worship You today as Lord and King!

We bow in reverence this morning to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who was slain from the foundation of the world. We praise Almighty God for His outpouring this morning. We thank God for His love, His abiding love, His cleansing love, His healing love on this morning. We thank Him for the Passover sacrifice of Jesus for the redemption of the world from sin. Blessed Savior, we thank You! Amen!

On this Resurrection day, we praise God for the resurrection. We thank Him for our risen Savior! We thank Him for the Blood of Jesus!

I know it was the Blood,

I know it was the Blood,

I know it was the Blood for me.

One day when I was lost,

Jesus died on the Cross.

I know it was the Blood that saved me!

I know that the Lord is not slack concerning His promises towards us! As we embark on the 16^th week of 2014, on our 52 Week journey of FAITH, the scriptural reference this morning and for this week is from Matthew chapter 9, verse 2. It reads:

And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said to the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; your sins be forgiven you.

It must have taken some serious FAITH for them to bring a paralyzed man to Jesus for healing. But there he is, believing God for a change in his life. Not only did Jesus forgive him of his sins, but He healed his body. By the same token, Jesus’ death on the Cross didn’t just bring us forgiveness for our sins and redemption from sin but it also brought us other things, such as healing, deliverance, peace.

Jesus’ agonizing and horrific crucifixion on Calvary’s cross was meant to undo the effect of sin in our lives, the things that God did not intend when He created us. He didn’t create us to die. He didn’t create us to live with diseases. He didn’t create us to live in world of heartache and pain. These things came through sin. But God had an answer and that answer was Jesus. He prepared His own sacrifice for the Passover, and it was the Lamb of God. Hallelujah!

To the people who knew this man, it must have seemed impossible for him to ever be well again. I could just see how hopeless that situation looked. Here was a man who was now bedridden. He could no longer walk. He couldn’t bathe himself. He couldn’t even take care of himself.

Just the same, things probably looked bleak for the Disciples on that Friday after the crucifixion. Here is the man who was supposed to be sent from God. Here was their teacher. He was supposed to be their Deliverer. He was supposed to be that long-promised Messiah. But they are looking up from the crowd and seeing Him hanging there dead on that Cross. And they go away hopeless.

I can just imagine that night, the Disciples trying to pull together and encourage what’s left of their group. Trying to keep their hope alive. I’ve been there before. Can I get a witness? What about all of the stuff He said about being with us always? He told us He would not leave us without a comforter. He said He was the resurrection. And now He’s dead. Friday night and all day Saturday the Disciples sat in despair. They had lost hope. But how many of you know that Friday ain’t Sunday?

They didn’t know that Joseph of Arimathea secretly asked Pilate for the body. The Disciples didn’t know that the Joseph and Nicodemus had taken his body down, anointed it and wrap it up and put it in tomb. They didn’t know that early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene went down to the tomb and found the stone rolled away. How many of you know that Friday ain’t Sunday?

That Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene ran and told Peter and Peter told everybody else. They came running back but the tomb was still empty. Still hopeless and in despair, heads hanging down, the Disciples went back home. But Mary stayed right there weeping. While she was crying, Jesus appeared to her and said “Mary, why are you weeping?” Jesus was resurrected and with Him, their hope.

I’m saying to you today why are you weeping? The despair of Friday gave way to the glory of Sunday! You may be hopeless today but I want you to know today that Sunday’s coming! Our hope is not in vain. Our hope is not dead. Hope got up! Our Hope was resurrected! Christ is our hope! And He was resurrected!(Colossians 1:27) Receive His forgiveness for your sins (Rom. 10:9). Believe God TODAY and watch Him resurrect those dead things in your life!