1. Blessed Easter!

3. “Surprise in a Graveyard”
Easter Weekend 2013

4. Surprise! It was February 27, 1991
Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon.
Clayton Carpenter, her son was dead;
For 3 days she wept;
For 3 days she was angry;
For 3 days people tried to comfort me;
And then after 3 days…
Surprise!

5. Surprise! Early Sunday Morning
Luke tells us that some women went to the grave.
The stone was rolled away;
The body of Jesus was not there;
Two men in gleaming white clothes appeared;
Surprise!

6. Surprise! Early Sunday Morning
John focuses on Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene.
She thinks someone stole the body;
She starts to cry near the tomb;
Jesus comes and talk with her, but she does not recognize Him;
Surprise!

7. Surprise! The Easter Story…
Is not a carefully contrived story designed by Jesus’ followers!
It is an honest report of baffled believers who had no idea of where Christ was leading until He appeared to them.
And then…
Surprise!

8. Pastor Michael Slaughter
Traveled to Moscow in April 1992, to celebrate Russia’s first Easter.
In Red Square there was a huge banner…
Less than 25 yards away stood Lenin’s Tomb.
Surprise!
He’s Risen!

9. The Apostle Paul’s Account
In First Corinthians 15:3-7
Christ died for our sins…
He was buried…
He was raised on the third day…
He appeared to Peter and the twelve…
Early Apostle’s Creed

10. The Apostle Paul’s Account
And then He appeared to more than 500 brothers and sister at the same time…

11. Nothing refutes the Resurrection
The tomb was empty;
Numerous eyewitness reports of seeing Jesus alive;
And 500 people see Jesus alive at the same time;
Do we need any more evidence?

12. Nothing refutes the Resurrection
Nothing in the ancient world;
Nothing in the modern world;
“Higgs boson”
referred to as
“The God Particle”

13. George Frederic Handel
Wrote the “Hallelujah Chorus” in 1751 after he was blind.
It expresses the thought that Christ shall reign forever…

14. This is the Music of Easter
Surprise!
It is joyous
It is the same song that rings in our hearts again today, that this Jesus is no longer dead but…
He is Alive!

15. “I am the resurrection and the life
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”
Do you believe this?