Sermons on Easter

“Against All Odds”

Exodus 15:1-18             {Prayer}             If you buy a lottery ticket, what are the odds that you will win a multi-state power-ball jackpot? About 1 in 292.2 million. If you play football in high school, what are the odds of playing in the NFL? About 1 in 10,000. Those are about the same odds as…

“Mercy in the Open Tomb”

Exodus 15:1-18             {Prayer}             In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, there is a tomb which is known as the “opened grave”. It is the tomb of a noblewoman, Henriette von Ruling, who died in 1782. Her tomb, her above ground vault is immense and is constructed of heavy stone with a large and imposing…

“The Empty Tomb: A Place of Remembering”

Luke 24:1-11 {Prayer}             It’s easy to get overwhelmed at Easter with the choir, the lilies, the praise, the celebration of Christ’s victory.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed.  But when you listen to Luke tell the Easter story, he focuses your attention on one thing … remembering.             Think of it.  The first Easter was…

“Stuck in the Middle”

Acts 1:1-11 {Prayer}             To quote a well-known commercial … “How do you eat an Oreo cookie?”             I know, that sounds pretty random, but you should know by now that my mind sometimes comes up with some weird ideas.  As I was reading through our text from Acts 1, as well as some other…

“Jesus as Friend?”

John 15:9-17 {Prayer}             Have you ever been asked, especially by someone who may not be connected to a church or who may not even be a Christian … “Why are you doing that?”              Something similar happened at the Easter Egg Hunt this year.  One of the little ones there was so excited to…

“Pruning Hurts”

John 15:1-8 {Prayer}             Whenever I have gone away on a youth trip, mission trip, or a hunting trip … as much as I look forward to them and enjoy myself on them … there is also this voice in the back of my head which says, “Don’t call home.”  Now it’s not that I…

“Living for Others”

1 John 3:16-18 {Prayer}             Have you ever tried to fit a square peg into a round hole?  Pretty much impossible right?  In order to do it there has to be some major alterations.             In the one of my favorite movies, one which may get a lot of dad jokes developed from being that…

“Not Your Average Ghost Story”

Luke 24:36-49 {Prayer}             Nothing intensifies a night out camping quite like a good ole fashion ghost story.  Sitting around the campfire with the flames dancing up through the wood casting all kinds of shadows on the trees above and around you, having someone holding a flashlight up from under face, and then tell you…

“New Jerusalem”

Zechariah 14:8-11 {Prayer} Cities spend big bucks on marketing.  In the 1970’s New York City was in chaos.  Crime was running wild.  As a means of scaring off tourists, unions across the city actually ran a campaign called “Welcome to Fear City”.  Tourists were told that they should “stay away from New York City if…

The One Who Shows Up

John 20:1-18 (ESV)The Resurrection20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken…