Here’s my personal sermon notes for an Easter Sunday worship. This sermon was quoted from the story when the angel appeared to Mary and other women as they visit Jesus’ tomb and the angel  gave them the messages of resurrection. Our passage is found in Matthew 28:1-7

Do not be afraid – Resurrection of the Lord Jesus is not the end of the world. It is also not a zombie based resurrection that when he bites he spread a virus. The angel said “Do not be afraid”. It is good news and there is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, it is a call for celebration.

Jesus has resurrected and it is the confirmation of our hope that there is life after death and that there is something that awaits us when this life ends. It is the confirmation that we believe in something that is true, something that is not in vain. What a great news indeed.

“I know that you are looking for Jesus”, it is not a secret to angels that Jesus has risen from the dead. He knows where Jesus is and is telling it to the women. After all those sufferings, after all those hardships that Jesus underwent, he finally overcame death a more reason for people to enjoy.

Do not be afraid of the things to come for sure there is hope in everything we undergo.

He is not here – Jesus did not remain in the grave. He has risen. He is no longer with those who fell asleep, he is with the living. At that very moment, he is about to meet his disciples once again.

Today, many people believe that God is dead on Fridays and Saturdays of every year during the Holy Week. This is why some prefer to spend their time with their own families being afraid of what may happen.  On the other hand, many people want to go to church every Sunday of the Holy Week to meet the newly resurrected Christ celebrating the risen Lord.

Well, Jesus died only once, and when he was resurrected he remained alive even until he went to heaven. Brethren, we cannot look for Jesus in the grave. He is alive.

But some of us are still looking at him in the grave. We are still thinking that he is dead (figuratively speaking). We disobey his word and openly neglect him. Sometimes, we treat him as dead, someone who cannot see us, someone who is not there.

But wait, this is what the angel of the Lord tells us:

Come and see – Check out the evidence. Jesus is no longer in the grave. He is alive. What you can only see there is an empty grave, an empty cloth of the dead. There is an invitation for us to see the empty tomb.

When we want to prove something, we need to come and see and check the evidence. The empty tomb is a proof that Christ is alive. When the angel told the women that Jesus is not there, he also invited them to come and see and prove to themselves that the tomb is empty and the body of Christ is not there.

In our daily circumstances, sometimes there are big things that we find it hard to believe that God indeed can work in it. We fail to see that God is there and is watching over us and sees things better than how we see it. Sometimes we easily lose hope when our problems seem so big.

This is what God wants us to learn, we need to know that our God is bigger and greater. All we need to do is to accept and believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and indeed without any doubt we can prove that God is powerful.

Go and tell others – Not only that we are to prove God’s power, we also need to share what we have learned. Jesus did not remain in the grave. Jesus has risen. Go and tell others, this is the instruction of the angel to the women who visited Jesus’ grave. And we are to continue to tell others about Jesus.

What are we waiting for? Let’s go out and tell others about Jesus. Do not hesitate telling others about Jesus and the things that he did and the salvation that he gave.

Brethren, the resurrection of Jesus is not meant to be kept secret. It is meant to be shared to others. We need to tell others about it.

Jesus before He went to heaven expanded this message, to go and make disciples of all nations. This is what we are designed to do. Each one of us making an impact in the lives of other people, sharing the goodness of our Lord Jesus.