Easter Eggs: Discovering the Hidden Blessings of Jesus’ Resurrection
A Series for the Easter Season 2019
We dye them and color them. We decorate with them. We fill them with candy and nickels and hide them in impossible places for our kids. We search for them as inside jokes in movies and video games. Easter Eggs.
These weeks after Easter, we’re going on a hunt for some of the Easter Eggs of Jesus’ resurrection. We’ll be searching through Biblical accounts of Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection, God’s interactions with his people in the Old Testament, and some of the Apostles’ commentaries on Jesus’ resurrection to find some of the different blessings of Jesus’ resurrection that can be easy to overlook.
Easter’s flagship blessing, eternal life in Jesus, is such a game changer. But the resurrection that waits for us is just the beginning of a cascade of other blessings that trickle down into our lives. Join us this spring as we discover the Easter Eggs of Jesus’ resurrection.
SERIES INTRO
WEEK 1: Discovering Certainty in God’s Word
2 Peter 1:16-21
Pastor Mark Henke
Certainty comes not from the things we see with our eyes or touch with our hands, but from the divinely inspired scriptures. What a blessing that we have uninhibited access that Word that gives certainty. But do we always look to the Word for certainty, or do we turn to other sources? Moreover, how often do we believe the word of liars like reason, culture, and our law-governed self over the divinely inspired Word of God?
Week 2: discovering verification in Jesus’ resurrection
John 21:1-14
Pastor Pat Brown
The Bible presents a message of a Savior. We gather to study that message and worship that Savior. But how do we know--really know--that it's all true? One night when Jesus friends were unwinding on the lake fishing, Jesus answered that question for them. See Jesus' resurrection along with his disciples and find the verification for your faith that they found.
Week 3 - Discovering Security in the Good Shepherd
Revelation 7:7-19
Pastor Zach Gebert
One of Scripture’s favorite pictures of Jesus is a shepherd. But it’s so easy to relegate that picture to caricatures of Jesus for children. Quiet pastures and a gentle shepherd are images with which we can comfort children, but they may seem to have little to do with the hecticness and pain of adult life. Except, they do. In fact, the whole reason Jesus describes himself as a shepherd is for people who suffer on earth.
As we get a glimpse into the heavenly sheepfold in Revelation 7, we notice signs of where these people have been. Robes recently cleaned from blood. Faces recently healed from sunburn. Backs recently relieved from burdens. Those who make up the glorious white multitude “are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation.” When we know that our Shepherd is bringing us to a certain rest, we are secure in whatever attacks us during the Tribulation.
WEEK 4 - DISCOVERING peace through faith
2 Kings 6:15-17
Pastor Zach Gebert
To "live with your eyes wide open" usually means that we live fully aware of the dangers, threats, and risks that we face. But 2 Kings 6 shows us that that's only living with your eyes half open.
God's prophet, Elisha, open his eyes of faith and sees the protection that God's sent him. So also we, when God fully opens our eyes of faith, see his deliverance and goodness all around us. And this deliverance gives us peace.
WEEK 5 - DISCOVERING Mission In Jesus’ Heart
John 17:20-26
Pastor Mark Henke
Jesus wants unity. He prays for it. That he might be one with all who are his. Some already are close to him. Some are his and he hasn’t yet possessed them, though they've been given to him. In answer to Jesus’ prayer, God works through his body, the church, to bring the gospel of the Savior to all people, that they might know God as we know God. Pastor Mark brings us the final sermon in our Easter Eggs Sermon series. This sermon was recorded at Bethany Lutheran Church's Saturday Family Worship Gathering at it's Appleton Lynndale Campus on June 1, 2019.