0:00 Intro 2:14 Joke 2:42 Worship 6:43 Announcements 8:24 Pledge of Allegiance 11:15 Worship Continued 23:29 Message 56:09 Closing Worship What happened after the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem? The people in Jerusalem were celebrating Him as a King. Now, He is the King of Kings, King of Heaven and Earth, but the people wanted an earthly king who would rescue them from their Roman occupiers. Jesus continued to teach and do miracles, proving that He was the Son of God. But the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were the religious leaders, kept trying to trick Jesus into saying something that would go against their traditional religious laws. Jesus thwarted their efforts at every turn. Fast-forwarding a little bit, Jesus and His disciples prepare to have the Passover meal together. No one but Jesus recognized that this would be the last Passover meal they would have together while Jesus was on earth. We know it as the Last Supper. In preparation for the meal, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. He even washed the feet of Judas, who would betray Him only hours later. Jesus later told His disciples that one of them would betray Him and that He would be handed over and put to death. Every action Jesus did was necessary to fulfill scripture and to give us the opportunity of eternal salvation and the complete forgiveness of sins. The only one who could accomplish this was God in the Flesh, Jesus our King. After the Passover meal, Jesus and the disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus went to pray and told the disciples to keep watch. But the disciples fell asleep, not once, but twice. Then the Roman guards arrived and arrested Jesus. He was beaten, tortured, condemned to death by the religious leaders and later by Pontius Pilate. He was mocked by the Romans who put a crown of thorns on His head. Then He was nailed to a cross with giant spikes through His hands and feet. He took on all the sins of the world, would die with Him, and be wiped away forever. At the exact moment of His death, the veil to the Holy of Holies, which was a couple of inches thick, tore from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the sky grew dark with clouds and thunder. Some people must have seen this and finally believed that Jesus was who He said He was. So now that Jesus is dead, the disciples go into hiding. They were running from the Romans and the Jewish religious leaders. Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb he had cut out of rock for himself. A large stone was rolled in front of the opening. The religious leaders had Pontius Pilate seal the tomb and place a guard on it. They remembered that Jesus had said He would rise from the dead. They would do everything they could to prevent that from happening. That seal meant no one was getting in or out. But on the first day of the week, two women went to see the tomb. All of a sudden, there was an earthquake because an angel had come down from heaven and rolled the stone away. The guards fainted like dead men. The angel told the women not to be afraid because he knew they had come seeking Jesus. He said Jesus was not there but had risen and told them to come see where the Lord lay and then go tell his disciples what they had seen. They did so, and on their way, Jesus met them and they worshipped Him. Jesus told them not to be afraid and to go tell His disciples to go to Galilee, where they would see Him. He rose from the dead as He said He would. Because of His death and resurrection, we have hope in our lives. The prophets foretold it, it happened exactly as predicted, and it shouldn’t have been a surprise. His followers likely doubted it would happen as a couple of days went by. But when the women saw Jesus, they were filled with fear and great joy. But they went and told the disciples as they were told to do by the angel and later Jesus. This showed their faith in Jesus, because faith is not the opposite of fear. It is walking in obedience in the midst of fear. The stone wasn’t rolled away so that Jesus could get out. The stone was rolled away so the women and the disciples could see in and fully realize that Jesus was who he said he was. They saw and believed. Today, through the gospel, we can see into the empty tomb and believe in Him by faith. No one else in history has ever predicted they would return from the dead and then actually do it! Only the King of Kings could do that, and He did it so that we can have the opportunity to spend eternal life with Him. This is not the end of the story. It is the beginning. We have the opportunity to tell others about Jesus. The good news of the resurrection was never meant to stay contained to the tomb, or to our homes, or to our churches. It is meant to go out to the world. That’s our King! Do you know Him?