By REV. TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR
Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
(Transcribed by Myra D. Colgate)
Read: Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-20; John 20:12,18-23
Continuation…Part B
In Mark is given some of the women’s conversations as they headed to the tomb, talking about the spices they were carrying, needing to anoint the body of Jesus, and whom they might get to move the stone from the entrance of the tomb. The real problem is they all underestimated Jesus. Don’t underestimate Jesus.
They saw the stone was removed. It’d been sealed at one point, but now was unsealed. The rock had covered the entrance, but now was moved out of the way. When they’d gone in, they found the Body of Jesus was no longer there. They’d brought their spices to anoint His Body but found the tomb empty. Two witnesses were there instead. They were angels and the Bible says they wore “shining” garments. Their clothing was literally shining in the Glory of the Lord.
The angels asked the question seen in Verse 5, “Why seek ye the Living among the dead? Why’d you come to a dead place to seek Him Who’s alive?”
May I just help us this morning? By asking, has anyone ever looked at a situation and declared how it was going to work out? If I can work through this, it may look like we’re going to make it. Then finding out, the problem had already dissipated and been dealt with. The stone was already rolled away. There was nothing left but the evidence that God had been there.
We could all ask, “Why are we looking for the Living among the dead?” If we’ve ever lost something that was precious to us, then we know what they must’ve felt like. The very One who’d healed their bodies, had cast out devils, the One Who’d walked with them and given them Hope and Peace, was now gone and no one knew where His Body could have been taken. They were not sure what to do next.
When I look around this scene, I see a group of folks who called themselves, “those who follow Jesus.” They were mourning the fact they’d lost a relationship with someone they loved. They also mourned the fact that they’d lost a job, and were mourning all these unchangeable facts.
I’ve come today to share, that a person can’t do normal things to get back the things that have been lost. Begin declaring with me, “I’m mourning for Live things.” The problem is the the devil comes only to steal, kill and destroy, but the issue is, I refuse to look into the death for the Life, to look for what’s stolen, for what I still have. I refuse to look at the situation, and I look and declare, there’s Life, there’s Justice, and there’s Peace! Realize there’s a God Who knows how to bring what’s needed.
There’s a group of people today who are looking to and on Twitter, Facebook, Periscope, and the others for all the things they’ve lost, that one relationship, that love. Those things are now dead things. But, there’s One Who lives now, His Name is Jesus, He is alive and well.
If one is looking today, look to Jesus Who is alive and well, and a person can find what they’re looking for today. The angel stood at the tomb’s door and had a message for the ladies, in Verse 7. What the angel said was what Jesus had said and is printed in the Red letters. Why is that? If the angels said them, why were these Words printed in Red?
“The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and then on the third day, rise again.”
Now in my Bible, these Words are in Red, but note that the angels said it. It’s because these aren’t just the Words the angels spoke, but they’re the Words that Jesus spoke as well!
Pastor Tim, “Why? Why are the Words in Red, if the angels said them?”
“When one says the Words Jesus has said or spoken, even the demons don’t know Who said them. All they hear is the actual Voice of God even if He is speaking them out of a person’s own mouth!” explained Pastor Tim.
We ought to quit lingering at “the empty grave” of our lives, and at the mess that was made of our lives, at the mess made yesterday, with the stuff others’ did, and done at the the hands of cruel and and wicked men. We should rise up and begin saying the very Words Jesus is speaking into our lives.
Words like, “Let the poor say, I am rich. “Let the weak say, I am strong.” Speak them out loud. It’s why the Words are in Red. Speak them into your life for yourself!
