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Called By Name (Easter 2024): There\u2019s something so powerful about being called by name. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, the first eyewitness was his friend, Mary Magdalene. But Mary didn't recognize Jesus until he called her name. "Mary." When God calls us by name, his calling changes everything. Recorded on March 31, 2024, on John 20:1-23 by Pastor David Parks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFinding Life in Jesus\u2019 Name\xa0is a sermon series on the gospel according to John in the Bible. Have you ever felt\xa0unsatisfied\xa0with your life? Or, even when things were going well, something was still\xa0missing? Many people sense there must be something more. But what?? John, one of the closest friends of Jesus, believed that Jesus came into the world so that we may have life and have it to the\xa0full. Jesus turned John\u2019s life upside down, and John claims this new life \u2014 marked by God\u2019s power, presence, and purpose \u2014 is available for all who believe.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSermon Transcript\n\n\n\nAll year, we\u2019re working through The Gospel According to John in a series called Finding Life in Jesus\u2019 Name. Today, we\u2019ll consider the meaning of the empty tomb from John chapter 20. Now, one of the features of the account of the resurrection in John is when Jesus calls Mary Magdalene by name. \u201cMary.\u201d There\u2019s something so powerful about being called by name. If you\u2019ve ever had someone use your middle name when calling you by name, that probably wasn\u2019t a good thing. You were probably in trouble. I still get a \u201cDavid Elliott\u201d from Holly every so often. Years ago, at the first pastor\u2019s conference I attended before Appleton Gospel started, I went to dinner with some of the national leaders of the EFCA, the denomination we\u2019re part of. There were maybe 50-60 people there, and I didn\u2019t think anyone knew who I was. But then, the president of the EFCA announced that before dinner, David Parks was going to come up and pray in Korean. I froze. I hadn\u2019t met the president, and I didn\u2019t know how he knew my name, much less how he expected me to pray in Korean. But thankfully, before I did anything, a Korean man named David Park, who was a pastor in California, went to the front and led us in a beautiful Korean prayer. After dinner, I introduced myself and shared my moment of panic, and we laughed about it together. But other than that, normally, being called by name means someone knows you, someone sees you, and possibly someone loves you. But is that what you picture when you think about God? As someone who knows you, sees you, and loves you? As someone who calls you by name? Or does God feel far off and removed from your life? I\u2019ve had seasons like that. Do you feel like you\u2019ve been struggling through life without much help? Or that you\u2019ve been trying hard to be a good person and aren\u2019t sure what God thinks about you? Well, this message is for you. If you have a Bible/app, please take it and open it to John 20. We\u2019ll read through this and unpack it as we go.\n\n\n\nJohn 20:1\u201310 (NIV), \u201c1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, \u201cThey have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don\u2019t know where they have put him!\u201d 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus\u2019 head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they we...