Mark Chapter 16 Verse 1

• Jesus was crucified on the Passover and so mostlikely Jesus’ body had not been properly prepared for burial as the Jews were in a hurry to get Him squared away before sundown…

Mark Chapter 16 Verses 2 – 3

• And so these women, as they walked, said among themselves, “who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”
• So here we have four women all agreeing that together, even as a team, they don’t have a chance at budging that boulder…but notice…they’re on their way!
• I love that! Man, there are boulders set throughout our lives aren’t there? There’s no way my marriage can be fixed, we’re too far gone! There’s no way I can get out of debt…there’s no way I can endure another day or another month or another this or that…there’s no way God would accept me…I’m too dirty man…not true.
• We were at Lincoln’s birthday party this past Thursday and man I was in a bind…Chuck E. Cheese, right…two kids…472 tickets…those tickets man! Kids go crazy for them…and it just breaks my heart as my little man or my little princess bring me the one by ones and I just want to look at them and say, “Hey, step up the PRODUCTION!” HA! So there I was, at the beloved candy counter…and the kids what do they want? The 10,000 ticket toys! Of course! HA, but I have 472 tickets for the both of them…
• So we negotiate and they both get these really nice lolly pops…and for the moment, I’m in the clear…then a boulder… ”Say, (as the kids stare in wonder at their large prizes), how much is that cotton candy?” Which happens to be MY favorite! The nice young lady replies, “200 tickets.” I only have 172 and she knows it…so the silence begins…the silent negotiation…and then…THE BOULDER ROLLED AWAY! HA! She just handed it to me! YESSSS!!!!
• That’s a dumb illustration but it’s fun…I suppose I could talk about how I got my job or how this ministry began…but these women knew that the stone would be there separating them from Jesus but they went anyway! So should we! Think for a moment, accept for a moment…trust for a moment that it is GOD’s job to remove the stone…not ours! We are to walk by faith so put on your faith Jordan’s and fly! (Make me like Mike!)Mark Chapter 16 Verse 4
• I love this! They just get up and go…they invest (as they bought the spices) and they just go man…and as they walk, they begin just naturally to look up! Precisely what happens to us and what do they see…God’s inexplicable, unmistakable and absolutely incredible provision! When they looked up, they saw that the stone HAD been rolled away…they didn’t watch it roll man…it’s like it was waiting for them…just waiting for them to look up!
• You think it’s there! You expect it to be there! But you go anyway JUST to see what God will do! You obey anyway just to see what God will do. You deny your sight for the sake of the scripture just to see what God will do and I’m telling you…when you get there…you’ll see the strength and the faithfulness of God!Mark Chapter 16 Verses 5 – 6
• One simple question I have for you. A question I love to ask and the answer I LOVE to teach…Who raised Jesus from the dead? God? Jesus Himself? The Holy Spirit? If you answered any of those then you know what? You’re right! The Holy and Eternal and Mysterious Trinity…the Godhead Three in One is expressed explicitly in the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
• What are you talking about Matt…Look, so cool! God raised Jesus from the dead! Acts Chapter 13 Verses 29 and 30 say, “Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.”
• But wait, there’s more! The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead! Romans Chapter 8 Verses 10 and 11 say, “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
• Let’s complete the picture! Jesus raised Himself from the dead! John 2:19 Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up!” And in John Chapter 10 verses 17 and 18 Jesus said, “My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again!”
• And so how is it that Jesus raised Himself, yet God raised Him, yet the Holy Spirit raised Him? Because indeed they are all One God! Just a cool testimony of the Trinity in the resurrection that I wanted to show to you!

Mark Chapter 16 Verses 7 – 8.

• This word for afraid is not afraid as in ewwwwwww I’m so scared, but it’s more the feeling of ecstatic awe! They are pumped, excited, intrigued and a little syfy’d…you know that feeling when something else is happening right in front of your eyes and you are just amazed? What was it? The stone being rolled away? The empty tomb? The angel right there with them? Yes…but don’t miss this…
• Peter… ”But go, tell His disciples – and Peter…” That’s how it reads most likely in our texts but in the Greek that word there for and also gives the implication of inclusion…and Peter, even Peter, especially…Peter indeed…and the women gasped with wonder and excitement…grace man. Peter had failed. Everyone knew it…he had failed in the most heinous way…open, repeated, public rejection of Jesus…and yet the angel was given specific instruction…tell Peter I love him…
• Is that you this morning? Have you been warming yourself by the fire of the world this week? Have you been defeated by the peasant girl this week?   Maybe this month, this year, this life…a specific message for you this morning…tell them, I love them…
• Back in the middle of our text, that word for rolled away…also means back or reverse…the rock had been reversed…rolled back…man is that you? You started out so well maybe…and yet you’ve lost yourself…God is able to roll back man…and He’s waiting for you to look up…