He is risen…

1. Easter is for the person who has been devastated by death1. Easter is for the person who has been devastated by death

Death died when Christ rose

1 Corinthians 15:20-22 “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.” (NLT)

1. Easter is for the person who has been devastated by death1. Easter is for the person who has been devastated by death

Luke 24:39 “Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it's really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies…” (NLT)

1 John 3:2b “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Jesus says “I am starving! Do you have any food?” (Luke 24:41-42)

1. Easter is for the person who has been devastated by death1. Easter is for the person who has been devastated by death

1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

John 11:25-26 "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

2. Easter is for people who have failed spiritually2. Easter is for people who have failed spiritually

vs. 6-7 “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'”

God gives second chances

Luke 24:12b “…he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.”

2. Easter is for people who have failed spiritually2. Easter is for people who have failed spiritually

John 21:5b “Boys do you have any food?” (AMP)

Greek [paidion] often translated as: friend / lads / young man / children• Literally – “a childling” or “a half grown boy”

Mark 14:31 “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!" (NLT)

Jonah 3:1 “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time saying…”

3. Easter is for the person who feels as though God has let them down

Mark 16:12-13 “Afterwards Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.”

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

3. Easter is for the person who feels as though God has let them down

1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.”

Luke 24:32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Fill your mind and your heart with the word of God and stand on it

4. Easter is for doubters

Mark 16:14 “Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.”

Luke 7:19 He sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

“Doubt is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking.”

- Oswald Chambers

4. Easter is for doubters

“Scepticism is the first step toward truth” - Denis Diderot, Pensées Philosophiques (1746)

“Every believer will go through a hall of doubt on their way to the room of truth”

– Chuck Swindoll

Isaiah 1:18a “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD…”

John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

4. Easter is for doubters

John 20:28b “My Lord and my God”

John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

He is risen…