Why the Resurrection Still Changes Lives Today

In this Easter message from Matthew 28, Pastor Chris Teien walks through the reality and power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This message shows how the resurrection is not just a historical event, but a life-changing truth that reveals who Jesus is, calls for a personal response, and offers new life today. 

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/18966481

The Resurrection Reveals the Truth About Jesus – Matthew 28:1–7
 Jesus’ resurrection proves that everything He said about Himself is true. He is the Son of God with authority over sin and death (Romans 1:4).

The Resurrection Requires a Response to Jesus – Matthew 28:8–17
 Everyone must respond to the risen Christ. Like the women and the disciples, we are called to believe, worship, and go tell others (Romans 10:9, Matthew 10:32).

The Resurrection Results in New Life Through Jesus – Matthew 28:18–20
 Because Jesus is alive, we are given a new life and a new purpose. We are called to follow Him and make disciples (Romans 6:4).

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:
 Pastor Chris shares how God used people in his life, including family and a Christian camp, to help him understand that Jesus is real and personally know Him.

Notable Quotes:
 “If the resurrection is not true, we have no hope. But because it is true, everything changes.”
 “Jesus didn’t just rise from the dead and disappear. He is alive and active in our lives today.”
 “We don’t just celebrate that Jesus won. We live in His victory.”

Actionable Takeaways:
 Reflect on what the resurrection means for your personal life
 Place your faith in Jesus and begin a relationship with Him
 Share the message of the resurrection with someone this week
 Take a step toward living as a fully devoted follower of Christ

Scripture References:
 Matthew 28:1–20 – The resurrection account and Great Commission
 1 Corinthians 15 – The importance of the resurrection
 Romans 1:4 – Jesus declared Son of God by resurrection
 Romans 10:9 – Salvation through faith in Christ
 John 11:25 – Jesus is the resurrection and the life
 Romans 6:4 – New life through Christ

Keywords:
 Resurrection, Easter, Jesus Christ, new life, salvation, faith, discipleship, Great Commission, gospel, hope

Challenge:
 Because Jesus is alive, take one step this week to follow Him more fully and share that truth with someone else.

Listen Link:
 Listen & Subscribe: wellfaith.buzzsprout.com

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26.0405de  Victory in Action: How the Resurrection Gives You New Life 

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

He is risen. And if he was not risen, there'd be no point for us to be here. But he has been, and our lives have been changed. Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you so much that we can gather together. It is a beautiful day to worship you and to celebrate you and to remember your resurrection. You paid the ultimate price, the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, but you didn't stay there. You didn't stay dead. You rose again, proving that you have power over death, that you have power to help us in our lives. You have power to guide and direct us. Power through you, Jesus. We thank you. We praise you. We lift you up. We are so thankful. We are so glad that you have risen and that we know about it. So we commit this time to you in Jesus' name.

Speaker 1:02

The morning sun removes the gray as angels roll the stone away. The tomb lay still, the air is tight, then burst to life with holy light. The guards are frozen, their hearts in fear. But heaven's voice is near and clear. Why seek the living among the dead? The Lord is risen just as he is dead. The grave given its angel. The world will never be today. Or death once waited, now nerves its days, the risen Christ, the king of kings. Let hearts away, let voice is rise.

Chris T 2:02

Jesus enters Jerusalem as king and he celebrated. And then he confronts corruption in the temple. Religious leaders turn from questioning him to plotting against him. A lot can happen in a week. Judas agrees to betray him, his own disciple agrees to betray him. Jesus shares the final meal and prepares his disciples. He wrestles in prayer and fully submits to the Father. He is betrayed, arrested, and abandoned. False trials lead to a death sentence. The crowd rejects him and chooses Barabbas. Jesus is crucified and declares the work finished. The temple curtain is torn, signing access to God. He is buried in a sealed, guarded tomb. His followers are scattered, afraid, and uncertain. Everything appears lost. And early Sunday morning, the women head to the tomb. So we're going to look at Matthew chapter 28 today, and I'm just going to read through parts of that passage and comment on it as we try to remember all the good things of the resurrection story because it matters to us. I just mentioned the temple curtain torn in two, this huge curtain that separated the high priest from the Holy of Holies, and the high priest could only go in there once a year on the day of atonement. So as far as it was for these people at that time, God said, This is my place in the temple, and you can only come in once a year. But when Jesus died on that cross, that huge curtain, that heavy curtain was shredded, was ripped from the top down. Man didn't do it, God did it to signify that you and I can have direct access to God. In the past, people needed to go through the priest to have their sacrifice made for confession, all of these different things, because Jesus is our high priest. And that is exciting. But this, even more than the temple curtain being torn, Jesus' resurrection is huge. And there's truths about the resurrection story as we look for victory in action, how the resurrection gives us new life. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, if you read how, if the resurrection isn't true, if Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, then we have no hope. Our preaching is in vain, what we say is lies. When you die, there's nothing after this. If all of if the resurrection is not true, if it didn't happen, then we're just wasting our time here. But Paul says, but the resurrection did happen. And all of these things are true because Jesus proved that he was God, had victory over death, and what he said, what he taught was true. The resurrection affirms it. He didn't just rise from the dead and disappear. He rose from the dead and he showed himself to a lot of other witnesses before he ascended into heaven. And when he ascended into heaven, he said, I'll be back. And someday he was going to return. But I hope that you experience him with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as prayers are answered, how life is directed, how hope and encouragement come. Great things happen for us as we walk day by day in a personal relationship with Jesus. And that is an exciting part of this. So let's look at, first of all, number one, the resurrection reveals the truth about Jesus. God chose to reveal himself to us through Jesus. And Hebrews talks about that. He's the exact radiance of his being, an exact representation of his glory, Jesus is. And so what we see in Jesus is what we know about God's personality. And then we have actually the Trinity. They're all working together. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all working together. They're working together to help us in our lives, to help us to be more like Jesus, to help us to find victory over sin, to help us to do eternally significant things with the days that we have. But when we look at Matthew chapter 28, verse 1, after the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, so Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. The disciples are in hiding, they're afraid. And so they're going to go just check and see on what's happening, what's the condition here of our dead, dearly loved friend, who we are going to miss. We are crushed. That he is no longer here. He was going to be our leader, but he is no more. So we're just going to honor him. We're going to honor him and show up. Mark 16:1 says they were bringing spices to anoint a dead body. They were not expecting for Jesus to come back from the dead like that. They were not expecting to find anything there. Maybe a couple Roman guards looking at a rock over the tomb. Maybe ask for a mission to go in and prepare his body with the burial preparations that they used at that time. But it was a sad time. There was no more hopes, no more dreams, nothing to look forward to. But, verse 2, there was a violent earthquake. For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. And the guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel did not roll away the stone so that Jesus could escape. Jesus was already out. He rolled back the stone so that the women could see inside that Jesus was no longer there. And the guards would see that Jesus was no longer there. And there were lots of different excuses that were made. We'll look at one in a minute. But many people think that Jesus, yeah, he was on the cross, but he died sooner than most. He gave up his life sooner than most. And that's interesting too, because actually Jesus, when he wanted to, gave up his life. It wasn't really taken from him. But they're like, well, yeah, he was pierced in the side, and those fluids did run out, but maybe he regained his strength and pushed away that rock and snuck away. The disciples who are afraid in hiding, no, maybe the disciples came and took the body away. They're going to tell everybody he rose from the dead when he really didn't. So many excuses that they've come up with. The angel reveals what's on the inside and he says to these women, do not be afraid. For I know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified. I just want to throw this in real quick. Is if I'm writing a story that I want to sell to people about something that didn't really happen, if I'm writing a fiction book and I'm picking characters in this culture, I would not choose the women. In that culture at that time, the women were not considered credible witnesses. So it would make no sense to put them in this story. If it was fiction in that culture, in that time, it didn't fit. But this is what the story says, because this is the way that it happened. The angel says, He's not here. He has risen just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Come in and take a look. Again, Jesus repeatedly said he was going to rise again. So Matthew 16, Mark 9, John 2, Jesus predicted his resurrection. The Old Testament prophesied it in Psalm 16. The tomb was empty and the grave closed vacant. If those who oppose Christ wished to silence his disciples, all they had to do was produce a body, but they could not. John chapter 20 talks about that. Many people saw the resurrected Christ. They looked on his face, touched him, heard his voice, and saw him eat. The lives of the disciples were revolutionized, and though they fled and even denied Christ at the time of his arrest, they later feared no one in their proclamation of Christ. And the resurrection story is the center of the Christian church. And it is the thing that has brought us to this point: the resurrection story and the resurrection power of transformed lives of lost sinners receiving Jesus Christ and being transformed and even becoming what we would call saints. So many lives have been changed through Jesus Christ. 2,000 years later, and that gift is still giving, it's still powerful, it still makes a difference. He is not here. He has risen just as he said, Come and see the place where he lay. Romans 1 4 says about Jesus, who through the Spirit of Holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. It's part of God's plan all the way, all along. And the fact that we have it, that we have it in Scripture, that we can know it, that we can tell the story, that we can experience the story, is a day worth celebrating. And that's what we celebrate. We don't celebrate Easter bunnies, we don't celebrate Easter eggs. Someone commented just the other day about why are we calling it Easter Sunday instead of Resurrection Sunday, because it is Resurrection Sunday. But the thing is, our culture, everybody out around us, the people that aren't committed to coming to church, call it Easter. And if you want to invite people to church on a particular day, you'd call it Easter. So we celebrate the resurrection, but we call it Easter because we want everybody to know on this day, this is what we're celebrating, and they are invited. They're invited. Maybe they didn't come to these seats today. Maybe they're going to listen or watch online. Maybe you're going to hear something from here or take a resource from here to somebody else, and you're going to tell them the story that you've been reminded of today, and that will make all the difference in the world. The resurrection is a story that just keeps on giving. In Matthew 28, verse 6. He is not here. He has risen just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples. He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you. Some people are still approaching Jesus' tomb like he's dead, like he's not there, like he can't hear, he won't hear, he won't change anything, but that's not how it works. When we place our faith in him, when we pray and ask for things, he promises to hear. Sometimes he doesn't give us everything we want, but he promises that when we're walking in him, he will give us what we need and provide for us and to help us in this life. So Easter Resurrection Sunday is a day when we share the experience and we tell others. We tell others what we have seen, what we have experienced, what we know to be true, and what they can do, our friends can do to respond to Jesus. Because number two, the resurrection requires a response to Jesus. Requires a response to Jesus. So these women, they could have just said, Oh, that's overwhelming, and not carried on with their mission, but they did. So Matthew 28, verse 8. The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. So in my own experience, I actually run faster when I'm afraid. So maybe you do too. When something is chasing you, and maybe you know what it is or you don't know what it is, you can run a lot farther sometimes when you're afraid. But these women hurried away from the tomb, filled with joy, filled with excitement, filled with anticipation. It was an angel. They haven't seen Jesus yet. It was an angel, and they were gonna carry on and tell that story to the disciples. But it gets even better. It gets even better. Verse 9. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said, and they came to him. They clasped his feet and worshiped him. Can you imagine how shocked you would be to see Jesus there? Just because you thought he was dead didn't mean you loved him less. Matter of fact, sometimes when we feel that we might lose somebody that we love, it helps us to remember how much more we love them. When we think about, okay, I really like this person. And then you start to think, what if this person wasn't here? What if this person died? How sad would I be? But Jesus is here. Jesus met them. Greetings, he said, and they came, clasped his feet, and worshiped him. And then he said, Do not be afraid. There's a lot of this fear stuff going on. I think it's a fearful respect, a fearful, I don't know what's happening here. My mind can't wrap my head around it. My body doesn't know what to do with the emotions. My body's gonna choose the emotion of fear. But Jesus said, Don't be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me. So they heard from the angel, and then they heard from Jesus. And Jesus is alive. And these women are the first ones to realize it. The first ones. Who was the first one to realize that Jesus was real in your family? Was it your parents, your grandparents, a neighbor? I think my step-grandparents really tried everything they could to get me to realize that Jesus was real. And it made a difference. God used a lot of different people in a lot of different ways to help me to understand that Jesus was real, including a Christian camp in Colorado. But to share the story, to tell the story, to go and tell. So they just needed to go tell the message. They just needed to go tell, hey, guys, Jesus is alive and he wants you to meet him on the hill in Galilee. Matthew 28, 11 says, while the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that happened. So the women are running to tell the message, and the guards are running to town to tell their commanding officers and the people who put them up to guarding this tomb what happened. Somehow, this angel showed up and he opened the tomb and there's nobody, there's nothing in there. It's empty. It's empty. And it says, when the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, You're to say his disciples came during the night and stole them away while we were asleep. They were so afraid. They said, If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. Satan is the liar. He is the deceiver and he is the accuser, and he will do anything he can to lie to us. He'll let us have religion, but he wants it so that it's not powerful religion, so you can satisfy your religious nature and do good things without actually experiencing the resurrection power of Jesus. Satan might try to deceive us and think, oh, if we do this good work, if we do this good religion, if we do all of these good things, that will be good enough. But that's not what the Bible says. All we can do is put our faith in Jesus and to follow Jesus because he is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. So be careful, be discerning, look around and think about the things that you're hearing. The think about the things that you're reading. Are they true? Are they godly? Are they biblical? Or is it a counterfeit? Is it a story? Is it something to deceive us? These leaders wanted the soldiers to deceive everyone and tried to pay them off. Meanwhile, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. I would too. It's like he's back. And Jesus did say it in the past repeatedly over and over again. But there was something to the whole timing of the thing of Jesus coming in to town, and then Jesus doing his teaching and doing his table turning and doing all the things that he did and then being crucified. And then afterwards, they started to go, oh, I do remember when he said that. I do remember that. Oh, that makes a lot of sense now. I do remember that. But it says when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. Some doubted. Sometimes when you come up to new information, sometimes you doubt. Sometimes when you hear that Jesus will forgive you of your sin and to come into your life and save you, and you know who you are and what you've done, you might doubt. What did they doubt? Maybe they doubted that he was really alive, but if they could touch him, then well, I guess he's still alive. Maybe they doubted that Jesus wasn't mad at them. Maybe they doubted that Jesus wanted to have anything to do with them because they abandoned him. When Jesus was being taken away, they all fled. And Peter denied him three times, and they might have been sitting there saying, Oh, Jesus, we're so glad you're back. I bet we're all fired. I bet, I bet you don't want to have anything to do with us because we said we were there for you, and then we failed you all. And everything that we did, all of us, we failed you. But Jesus showed love, Jesus showed care. Jesus, John 3.19, this is the verdict. Light has come into the world. People love the darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil. And sometimes, sometimes those people are the ones that would doubt that Jesus would want to have anything to do with them. But in John 11, 25, Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die, even though they temporarily die, even though they physically die, they will live with eternity through Jesus. And we cry out when we want to come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. We know that Romans 10, 9 says, if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And so we've got to declare something, we've got to speak something. Talking to Jesus. Prayer is talking to Jesus, just telling him, I'm a sinner. My life is messed up. I want to be forgiven. I want to follow you. I want to have a relationship, I want to have a relationship with you. I want to know these things that these other Christians are talking about, these answered prayers and assurance of heaven. John 1 12, Jesus says, To all who believed him and accepted, John says, To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. And Acts 16 11 says, believe in the they replied, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you'll be saved, you and your entire household. And Matthew 10 32, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth will also deny me before my father in heaven. So maybe they doubted because they were afraid. But Jesus has come back, and Jesus is full of forgiveness, and Jesus is full of new opportunities, and the same disciples who doubted, the same disciples, Thomas, he doubted a little longer than everybody else. But these same disciples who were afraid would boldly proclaim their faith to the point that they were persecuted for their faith, to the point that they were willing to die for the truth that they believed in, which is also another reason why the resurrection story must be true, is because they were willing to die for that. And very rarely would anybody die for a lie. Number three, reason this results in new life through Jesus. New life through Jesus. So, verse 18, Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the end of the age. Jesus had a mission for the disciples. Jesus has a mission for us. A disciple is a fully devoted follower of Christ. And a lot of us don't know what exactly to do with that. We're going to look at the adventure of disciple making. What is a disciple making? What's a disciple? How do we make disciples? And then where can I find people to make disciples? But to know that we have a mission. We have the opportunity to know the truth, to experience eternal life, to take the truth to others. The Holy Spirit helps us. It is so wonderful. Romans 6, 4. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. And that's what we get. We get a new life in Jesus. Every day when we wake up, we have an opportunity to pursue Jesus, ignore Jesus, or run from Jesus. And your life. It can be a struggle sometimes, but when you set your face towards doing the things that God wants, towards living for Jesus, towards being available to be used by Jesus, life can get really exciting. Life can be full of joy and contentment. It doesn't make it perfectly easy, and sometimes there's even persecution, but it is an exciting way to live life. We try to give people these how to find God New Testaments. And in the front, like the front six pages, it talks about how to know God. It talks about sin and forgiveness, and then it's got all these notes in there about how to live the Christian life and what's an angel or what's a demon, marriage, family, all these different things, and a full New Testament with lots of notes and stuff. And so if you are curious and you want to grow in Christ, take one of those with you. They're on the table on the other side of that wall as you walk out the door. If you know somebody that you want to share Jesus with, take one of those. Maybe take two. If you are willing to be used by God, but you don't know who He wants you to tell. Maybe you could take one or two of them. And I like to put them in ziploc bags in my trunk or under my seat in my truck. And that way they're always dry and perfectly clean when God uses me to hand it to somebody. But we want to make a difference in the world. We are celebrating what Jesus did because it makes a difference in our life. If you think about it, if you think about it, because Jesus was resurrected, our sin is forgiven. We are justified before God. We have new life. We become a new creation. We are no longer condemned for our sin. We have the power to live differently. We have victory over death. We have a living hope and an eternal inheritance. We have direct access to God. We have a high priest who intercedes for us. We have the presence of Jesus with us always. We have purpose and mission. We are part of God's kingdom. We will be raised with Him. We will be transformed like Him. We will be forever with Him. And death is not the end of our story because Jesus has arisen. We pray. Jesus, I thank you so much for this time. I pray that if there's anybody here that doesn't know you as their Lord and Savior, that they would come and talk to us today. That they would maybe just cry out to you. Something simple. Lord Jesus, please save me. Help me to know you. Lord, maybe they could grab one of those New Testaments and learn what your word says about this topic. But we're just so thankful for today. We celebrate it. We celebrate you, Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 27:01

Early on the dawn of Easter morning, the disciples came to the tomb of Jesus. And they realized that Jesus wasn't there. And in that moment, everything changed. Because if Jesus is alive, that means everything he ever said was true. It means he is who he said he is. It means he's the one true King. And the same is true for you. Whoever you are and wherever you came from, everything is different now. If Jesus is alive. If Jesus is alive, that means Satan is defeated. Sin is destroyed. Hell has lost its power and death is conquered. If Jesus is alive, you have brothers and sisters in the house of God and a place to belong in the family of Christ. If Jesus is alive, that means there's grace for your guilt, mercy for your misery, and strength in your weakness. If Jesus is alive, there is hope for your darkest days and forgiveness for your worst mistakes. Because after the rubble of Saturday comes the beauty of Sunday. So is redemption and so is hope. If Jesus is alive, so are second chances. So are reconciled relationships, and so are new beginnings. If Jesus is alive, we should tell the whole world about it. And that's exactly what we will do. Because Jesus is alive.