Bible Verses for Easter Sunday Service April 9, 2023
Mark 16:6
And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Matthew 28:6
He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
Announcements:
With the final night of Awana last Wednesday night, we want to especially thank our Awana leaders for their service this year.
Spring Ladies’ Luncheon is on April 29 at 11AM to 1PM. Planned is a time of fellowship for women of all ages. Please bring your family and friends. We will soon put up a sign up sheet for attendance and food.
Vacation Bible School is coming soon, June 5-9. Please be sure to mark your calendars. We look forward to an exciting week of ministering to children. VBS runs from 9AM to 11:45AM. As usual, we need people to help so please let Natasha know if you can give of your time that week
Our church looks lovely with the Easter Lilies. For these we thank the Weschenfelders and the Hofers who provided lilies in memory of Henry Weschenfelder and Virginia Locke. Calvin also gave a lily in memory of his mother, Linda Meyers, and his grandparents.
Special: Choir
As listed in the church program, we were blessed by several specials. First the choir performed “He Lives.” If you would just like to watch this aspect of the service, or listen again to this song, you can watch here, or you can watch online.
Next, Sharon Sutton performed a solo, “This is Amazing Grace.” You can also watch this here, or watch it online.
Sermon:
Staying in Luke, Pastor chose a passage for Easter Luke 7:11-17, “A Ruined Funeral,” which features a resurrection from the dead, a widow’s son. He remarked on a D. L. Moody quote, that Christ unlike most pastors, never preached at a funeral. Instead in the Gospels when Christ is at a funeral, he resurrected the dead person, three in all. Jesus brought back to life Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and the Widow at Nain’s son, which we cover here. Another way of looking at this is that if Jesus doesn’t come, we face death.
Pastor covered this section of scripture by splitting it into two topics, examining first the funeral procession and reactions to the funeral.
For the funeral procession, we first see the crisis of the widow of Nain. She has lost her son. In those days that meant she lost her means of support. Who would take care of her now? Jesus meets her at the gate of the cemetery where she is in distress. In conveying the funeral procession, Jesus halts it, which shows his compassion. He commands her to stop crying, as He knows what he is about to do. Pastor noted that Jesus talked of his power regarding the dead in John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” He certainly illustrated that here. The compassion of our Savior is wonderful, and of course extends to all of us, not just this widow. He illustrates His Lordship, he can touch a dead body, normally something making a Jew unclean, and bring life. He will use this power on all of us in His second coming.
Besides the procession, Pastor focused on reactions to the Funeral. Pastor noted we should always recognize the realities in a funeral. Death is our lot. Jesus broke that pattern here illustrating his Lordship over all creation. Our hope comes in living gratefully for Jesus’s work on the cross so that death is not our final end. Second, Pastor stressed we should believe this report. Jesus can and does raise the dead. We will find none better to put our faith in. Let’s make sure we have a sure faith in Him trusting in Him and His miracles.
Accessing the Service, Bulletin and Sermon Outline:
Here are the pages from the bulletin, click on the images below to see them full size:
If you would like to have the sermon outline, you can download it here, a pdf file.
If you would like a link to this service you can find it here. Perhaps you would like to share it with your friends. You could also share that link on social media, if you use any of the providers. We use Rumble, a safe alternative to Google’s YouTube.