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SERVICE VIDEO (link)TEXT: Luke 24:1-8; Romans 1:1-7\n\n\n\nEaster Sunday \u2013 April 9, 2023\n\n\n\nA few weeks ago I talked about story of Lazarus as a \u201cpreview of coming attractions.\u201d In Lazarus Jesus demonstrated the power of God over death and Jesus declared to Martha, \u201cI am the resurrection and the life.\u201d Well today we are no longer watching the previews; we have come to the main attraction. Jesus, dead and buried, was raised on the third day \u2013 on THIS day \u2013 to life.\n\n\n\nEvery Easter I like to make this point \u2013 and today is no exception \u2013 that Easter is not when Jesus died on the cross for the sin of the world. That was Friday, and that\u2019s why we call it Good Friday! And that is so important. Because Jesus died for us, our sins are forgiven and we can be reconciled to God. But that\u2019s not the end. In fact, it\u2019s just the beginning. Easter is the rest of the story, the next chapter, the \u201cso what\u201d of it all. In Romans 6:4 the Apostle Paul writes:\n\n\n\nWe have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.\n\n\n\nPaul wrote Romans to share the Good News about Jesus Christ and his Resurrection. In the opening verses of Romans, which was our second scripture reading today, Paul identifies himself as a servant and apostle of Jesus, set apart for the gospel or Good News of God. I want to look at these verses with you because they present in short form why the Resurrection is Good News and what it means for those who trust in Jesus Christ.\n\n\n\nWhat is the Good News? \xe0 Jesus is the Son of God! (v.4)\n\n\n\nPaul understands himself to be a servant of Jesus, called as an apostle. That means that he is a man on a mission, and that mission is sharing the Good News (gospel). That\u2019s his purpose in writing this letter to the Romans and it\u2019s his life-purpose. So I want to ask, \u201cWhat is this Good News?\u201d Even in these introductory verses, Paul has quite a bit to say about it, noting that Jesus was PROMISED and PRESENTED as the Son of God. \n\n\n\nPromised! (vv.2-3)\n\n\n\n2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures3 concerning His Son, born of a descendant of David according to the flesh\n\n\n\nFirst, Jesus was promised\u2026 through the prophets in the holy Scriptures (v.2). We\u2019ve noted that Jesus fulfilled numerous scriptures written about the Messiah, from the healing and freeing of people captive to spiritual, emotional, and physical maladies to symbolic acts like riding the donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And by no means least among the promises in the Hebrew scriptures of our Old Testament are the promise that the Messiah would be born from David\u2019s line. And so two of the Gospels trace this lineage from David to Jesus.\n\n\n\nThe Good News God \u201cpromised beforehand\u201d was that He would send the Messiah to usher in the Kingdom and declare peace. And up until Jesus\u2019 death, more and more people in Jerusalem and the surrounding area were believing that Jesus was that Messiah, so much so that he was perceived as a threat to the religious and secular powers of the day. But short of resurrection, all that seemed like it had failed. He had been killed, put down before he became too much of a threat.\n\n\n\nPresented! (v.4)\n\n\n\n4 who was declared the Son of Godwith power by the resurrection from the deadaccording to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s this next part that has to do with today and resurrection. In verse 4 Paul writes that Jesus was \u201cdeclared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.\u201d That word declared can also mean demonstrated or even \u2018presented.\u2019 It was the Resurrection that showed Jesus to be who he said he was, who scriptures promised he would be. It was the power of God on display. If you were here two weeks ago when we talked about Lazarus, we noted that raising him from the dead was the demonstration of God\u2019s power in a public way. Even more so, the Resurrection of Jesus demonstrated Go