He Is Risen: Celebrating Believers’ Baptism on Resurrection Sunday

Good morning. He is risen. He is alive. Amen.

Are y’all happy today?

Well, I tell you what, I love the fact that today as we celebrate that Jesus is alive, I do not know if I can think of a better day to come for believers’ baptism than on the day that we celebrate that He is alive. Amen.

I am just so excited about that today—that we get to celebrate believers’ baptism today. I am so glad each of y’all could join us for worship today as well on this Easter Sunday.

But we have got two men that are coming to make their public profession of faith and to come for believers’ baptism.

First, I am going to call for Homer. Homer, would you come down?

A lot of y’all have probably come to know Homer in these recent months or so since he has been coming. He is a brother in Christ that is in the Word. Actually on Wednesday nights when we have trivia, Homer kind of knows every answer when we are doing all the Bible study.

But Homer gave his life to Christ I believe around 10 years ago. But he was baptized as a child, but he never gave his life to Christ until around 10 years ago. And as we were talking, he had never been baptized after giving his life to Christ. And I just think that is so cool.

Homer wanted to come today for believers’ baptism.

Homer, before we baptize you, anything you want to say?

“I can’t think of a more perfect day to be baptized. Amen. Because this is the most important day of a Christian’s life—the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Praise God. Giving us a right to eternal life. Amen. I just ask you to pray that I would ever stay in His will because the devil and his demons are strong and they work against Christian folks. So remember me in your prayers. Amen.”

Thank you. Amen. Thank you, Homer, for that testimony. Praise God. Thank you, brother.

Homer, I am going to ask you just a few questions.

Homer, do you know that you are a sinner? “I do.” Praise God.

And do you know that the only way for forgiveness of sins is through faith in Jesus Christ? “Yes, I do.”

Homer, have you asked Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins? “I did.” Praise God.

And Homer, have you placed your full faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? “I do.” Praise God.

Well, Homer, based on your public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Buried with Him in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life. Amen.

Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for His forgiveness. He said, “Amen.”

Now I am honored to call forward Rebel Bird. I think I heard Hinton shouting out. Did I hear Hinton? For those of y’all that do not know, Rebel works with Hinton at Shirley’s Diner and that is how Rebel started coming to our church.

Rebel, before I share a few words and we have the baptism, is there anything you want to say?

“I just—I am blessed. I am grateful and I am free.” Amen. Amen. Praise God.

Rebel said he did not mind me sharing this. I tell you, he has got a story. We have all got a story, by the way. But Rebel battled addictions and being in and out of prison since he was 13. He shared with me that he died four times and was brought back to life four times. God has got a plan for you and a reason you are here, brother. He has got a reason you are here.

And when he got out of prison some years ago, he had had a faith and he had been baptized, but then he had a lot of years—about another 10 years after that—of just living in sin and of being in addiction and in and out of prison.

And he said about the time he was getting out of prison and got out, he called out to God and fully surrendered his life to Jesus and he has been changed.

You think about the Scriptures, it says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. All things have become new.”

And since he did that about the time he was getting out of prison about nine months ago, he said, “God has just set him free.” He just said it. He is thankful he is free. It is gone. And it is gone.

Do not you love that? Praise God.

Rebel, I am going to just ask you just a few questions.

Rebel, do you know that you are a sinner? “I do.”

And do you know that the only way for forgiveness of sins is through faith in Jesus Christ? “Yes, I do.” Amen.

Rebel, have you asked Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins? “I have.” Praise God.

And Rebel, have you trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? “Yes, I have.”

Thank you, Jesus.

Well, Rebel, based on your public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Buried with Him in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life. Amen.

Father God, I just thank You and I praise You for the way that You are working. Thank You for Homer and for Rebel coming forward for believers’ baptism. And God, I just lift up each of these men to You. And I also pray that as we have had believers’ baptism and as we worship and as we celebrate that You are alive, God, I pray You just continue to work in this place. I pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in this place today.

We love You. It is in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray. All God’s people said, Amen.

The Stone Was Rolled Away

Last Wednesday, we did have a great time. A lot of us have already studied about the suffering of Christ, about the events of Holy Week and just the ways the different Gospels speak about that.

And I tell you what I love when we get to Resurrection Sunday is reading from Matthew’s account of the resurrection, reading from Mark’s account, reading from Luke’s account, reading from John’s account. Anybody else do that? Just do not you love digging into the different passages that speak about the fact that Jesus is not dead, He is alive.

Today we are going to go to Mark’s account. We are going to go to Mark chapter 16 and we are going to read from there.

You know, a lot of the resurrection accounts, although they share some different perspectives, they also share many of the same things.

One thing that we see in all the accounts is that it was the women who were first at the empty tomb. It was the women who first heard from the angel that Jesus is alive. It was the women that became the first witnesses to the resurrection. And we read about that in each of the Gospel accounts.

Something else that we see in each of the Gospel accounts—and by the way with the women in Mark’s account we read about two or three; in Luke’s account we read three names: Mary Magdalene and Mary and Joanna and it says “and other women.” Salome was one of the women I think we read about in Mark’s account. We know there were at least five women—at least five, could have been more because it says “other women”—that were there early in the morning on Resurrection morning.

We also know this about Resurrection Sunday. We know that it happened on the first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Do not y’all love Sunday? You know, and ever since then, the Jews used to worship on Saturday. That was their Sabbath. But ever since then, the church has gathered on Sunday for Resurrection Sunday. Sunday is the day that the Lord rose from the dead.

But there are so many different things that we see in all of the resurrection accounts. And one other thing that we see is that the stone was rolled away.

Today, we are going to talk about that. We are going to go to Mark’s account and we are going to talk about the stone being rolled away.

If you have got your Bibles, we are reading from Mark chapter 16. I am going to begin reading there in verse 1.

I do invite anybody that is able and would like to stand with me in honor of the reading of the Word of God.

Mark chapter 16, beginning in verse 1. The Word of God says this:

“Now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, ‘Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?’ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here.’”

Father God, thank You so much that today and every day we can celebrate that we serve a risen God. Thank You today and every day that we can say Jesus is alive. He is risen.

And God, as we dig into Your Word and specifically Mark’s account of that glorious Resurrection Sunday, I do just pray that as we dig into the Word, God, that You pierce hearts. I pray if there is somebody here in need of salvation today or somebody listening that today would be the day they call on You, Jesus, as Lord and Savior. And I do pray as believers that You would work inside each of our hearts and have Your way.

God, we love You. It is in Jesus’ name we pray. All God’s people said, Amen.

Thank you. You may be seated.

The Women Faced a Problem

You know, the women when they came to the tomb on Resurrection Sunday, they had a problem. They were coming early in the morning and they said amongst themselves, “Who will roll away the stone for us?”

You see, if you remember, after Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea, the Bible tells us, went to get the body of Jesus and he laid it in the tomb. But then as the religious leaders thought about it, they remembered that Jesus had told His disciples that on the third day He would rise.

Now, His disciples did not really—that did not click in them because they could not believe when they saw Him on the third day. But the religious leaders—they did not believe He was going to rise. What they thought was somebody was going to take His body and say, “See what happened. He rose.” And they thought they would just take His body to try to lie. So they got this large, large stone and they put it in front of the tomb and they even sealed it and then they had soldiers in front of it.

This is a stone that no one person could move. This was a big, big large stone and the women realized when they were going to the tomb that morning and marching out—we see they realized they had a problem. They said, “Who is going to roll away the stone for us?”

But I tell you what, when they got there that Resurrection morning, they got an awesome surprise. The stone was rolled away.

That morning, when they got there, can you imagine? I have got to imagine they were shocked. Maybe they were in a little bit of awe because they were there at the burial. Okay. The men were kind of for the most part not present very much after Jesus got arrested and at the cross other than maybe John. What we read about are the women being at the crucifixion and at the burial. Who we read about being there were the women. It seems the men were kind of hiding, kind of scared, probably kind of having a little fear, but the women were there.

And then very first thing after the Sabbath, just as soon as they could get there early in the morning, these women were going to be with Jesus, but as they went to be with Jesus, they were like, “Who is going to move away the stone?” And they got there and the stone was rolled away.

It says in verse 4 of Mark’s account, “But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away.”

I tell you, we know from Matthew’s account, it was an angel that came down from heaven and rolled the stone away. Matthew—it says in Matthew’s account in verse 2 of the resurrection passage, “And behold, there was a great earthquake.” Do not you love that? You read about an earthquake at the crucifixion. You also read about an earthquake at the resurrection. And we know at the end of the ends, there is going to be a great earthquake like no other earthquake.

A lot of times when we see God working in these monumental times, we read about an earthquake. There was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it.

I do not know how many men it would have taken to break the seal and to move this stone. You can read in commentaries about the many thousands of pounds that it probably weighed. I do not know. We do not know exactly. We just know it was a large stone.

But this angel came and you just get the feeling it was nothing to this angel. Talk about the power of God. An angel comes down, a great earthquake, an angel comes down, rolls back. By the way, why was the stone rolled away? Did Jesus need the stone rolled away? No. The stone was rolled away for us. The stone was rolled away so people—these women and others—you remember in John’s account it talks about John and Peter ran to the tomb once they heard. But it was so these women, John and Peter and others could see the beauty of the empty tomb and could see and hear, “He is not here. He is risen.”

The stone was rolled away.

Is There a Stone in Your Life?

And I tell you, as we consider that—and this is what was kind of on my heart to share today as Crystal and I were, I think a few mornings ago on our back porch reading the Bible, and we were reading from the different accounts. And as I read that about the stone being rolled away and how it allowed these women that were seeking after Jesus to draw closer to Jesus.

You know, a question I wanted to ask myself and I want us to ask ourselves is: Is there a stone that you need rolled away in your life? Is there a stone that is keeping you from Jesus?

First, it might be that there is a stone of doubt keeping you from salvation. You know, there can be all kinds of reasons that things get in the way of us drawing closer to Jesus. And there can be things or some kind of stone that gets in the way of us giving our life to Jesus, surrendering our lives to Jesus.

Maybe today you are here and there has been something keeping you from fully surrendering all to Jesus and giving your life completely to Jesus. If that is you, today, if there is some stone keeping you from surrendering to Jesus, I pray today will be the day that you roll that stone away and give your life to Jesus.

You know, we do not need—sometimes people can think, I need proof. Have you ever talked to somebody and they feel like, well, I need proof that Jesus is the Son of God? I have talked to people like that. Have you ever talked to somebody about like, “Hey, we read about somebody like that in the Bible, do we not? Thomas, right?”

After Jesus rose from the dead, the Bible shares that He appeared to over 500 people in His resurrection ministry. Is not that cool? Once Jesus rose, He did not go missing in action. Over 500 people, the Bible says, saw Him. We know He appeared first to Mary Magdalene. We know when the women were coming back from the tomb He appeared to the women. We know He appeared to two on the road to Emmaus, right? We read about that on the day He resurrected. We also read that He appeared to the disciples minus Thomas the evening of the resurrection.

But remember when the disciples—the women first brought word to the disciples that He is risen. Then after and they did not really—they thought it was like idle tales. The Bible says that they did not believe the women, but then Jesus appeared to them. And then they were like, “Okay, it is real now. We believe, right?” And Jesus appeared to them that evening, the evening of the resurrection after He had resurrected, but Thomas was not there.

And we read there in the Bible that they told Thomas, the other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So what does Thomas say? Thomas says, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

He needed proof to believe. He was saying, “I need to see it to believe.” Well, then a week later, Jesus came back and this time Thomas was there, right? And there it says after eight days the disciples were inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, “Peace to you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

And Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are you when you believe and you have not seen.” We do not need proof to give our life to Jesus. We need faith in Jesus.

And if you are here and there is some kind of stone that is keeping you from giving your life to Jesus, I just want to beg you, encourage you, and say, make today the day that you roll that stone away and give your life to Jesus.

We have all kinds of other stones that can get—we can have stones that keep us from salvation like we can have a stone of feeling not worthy. Does anybody ever remember maybe before you gave your life to Jesus that maybe you held back because you felt not worthy? Guess what? None of us are worthy. But God made a way for us to be worthy.

If there is some stone holding you back, maybe it is a stone of not feeling worthy. Do not hold back anymore. Give your life to Jesus today.

I remember for me a stone that was holding me back from surrendering my life to Christ when I ran for about four years. I finally surrendered at age 27. But a stone that was holding me back was I was like, “Man, I just do not know. I mean, I know about Him. I do not need to give my—I do not want to quit living this way. I kind of want to keep doing this.”

You know what? If you ever struggle with that and that is what is holding you back, do not let it hold you back anymore. You are not going to find joy and peace living for the world. You are going to find joy and peace living for the Lord.

But, you know, it is not just the non-believer that might have a stone in the way. It is also the believer. Is there a stone in the way in your life as a believer in Christ that is keeping you from a closer relationship with Jesus?

Do you have something in your life that is holding you back from living all out for Jesus and from having sweet fellowship with Jesus?

You know, by the way, one stone could be living in sin. If a believer is living in sin, you are not going to be as close to Jesus. Sin separates us from God. Amen. It will separate us for eternity if we do not give our life to Jesus. And if we are a believer and we are living in sin, if we keep living in it, are we really saved? That is between you and God.

But if you are a believer and you are living in sin, you are not going to be able to draw closer to Jesus. There is going to be a separation. You are not going to have that fellowship. If that is you, roll that stone away today.

Hey, I tell you, sometimes we can have a stone that keeps us from fellowship with God. It could be a stone of anger. Sometimes we can act like, “Oh, yeah, I can be angry. It is no big deal.” If we are being honest with ourselves, we know anger and being full of wrath—that is not of God. We are to be full of the Spirit.

Anybody have times they battle anger? Anybody? Anybody have times that they get full of wrath and anger and perhaps impatience and perhaps respond in the flesh? Perhaps you yell at somebody. Perhaps you get mad at them.

You know, if we have a stone of anger, it is going to have a separation for us. And I tell you one thing, we all make mistakes. And I do think it can help so much if we have gotten angry at somebody, we apologize to them. Sometimes we can struggle to even apologize. We can struggle to admit our wrong, but that stone of anger, if we keep it, we are going to be kept from the close walk we can have with Jesus.

Maybe that is you today, and you need to roll that stone away and give it to Jesus and live in the freedom that we have in Jesus.

We can have all kinds of stones. What about a stone of unforgiveness? Have you ever struggled with unforgiveness? People can hurt us bad and it is hard. But how does that song go? Forgiveness—the one that really frees you.

If we stay in a state of unforgiveness, it will eat us up from the inside out.

Maybe today you are here on this Resurrection morning and you have been struggling with unforgiveness. Would you roll that stone away and give it to God today? Give that burden to God.

We can have a stone of bitterness. Might be bitterness about the way our life is. Might be bitterness about our circumstances, but see, if we are staying in that bitterness, we are not going to be walking in the freedom we have in Christ.

Do you need to roll that stone away today? It might be a stone of bitterness. It might be anger.

Hey, what about anxiety? You ever struggle with anxiety? If we do not give that to God, it will affect our relationship with Jesus. Because if we are overwhelmed in anxiety, we are not—we are not focused on Jesus. We are focused on those problems, those worries.

We know what the Word of God says: Be anxious for nothing. Jesus said, “Therefore take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.”

Maybe it is a stone of anxiety. And maybe today you are here on this Resurrection morning, and you know, you got to give that to God. If so, roll that stone away.

Maybe you have got a stone of doubt that is keeping you from having faith in Jesus. Maybe you are a believer, but it is a stone of doubt that is making you doubt your relationship with Jesus. Maybe it is a stone of doubt making you doubt the power of prayer. Maybe it is a stone of doubt that is just making you think that God is not big enough for the situation you are in.

We got to roll those stones. And when we got stones, we got to roll them away.

Is there a stone in your life today that you need to give to God?

The stone was rolled away on the Resurrection morning. This was a problem that the women thought—I have got to think they thought, “How will we get to Jesus? How will we get to the tomb? We cannot move.” Well, guess what? God made a way. And God can make a way for us as well, you know.

And I think that is one important thing to remember when we think about if we have a stone, who has a stone they need to roll away? I bet we all probably do. Either we just do not want to raise our hands or maybe we think we are really that good on our own. I think we all probably have a stone we need to roll away.

But I tell you something I know I am reminded of and I would hope we are reminded of is some stones you cannot roll away on your own.

The women—I believe when I read that passage, I believe they were asking that question because they did not think there was a way for them to roll that stone away on their own.

Sometimes we have got a stone in our way in our relationship with Jesus. And we can try to act like we might—someone might be mad here today saying, “What is the preacher talking to me?” No, I am not talking to you. I am preaching the Word.

But I mean, sometimes we can be like, “Not me.” I mean, but guys, we all need help from God. And if we got a stone, if we are being honest with ourselves today, let us be honest and let us talk to God about it. And let us realize that most of these things we are talking about, we cannot roll them away on our own. We need help from God.

And just take a minute right now and just think: Is there something in your life that is keeping you from drawing close to Jesus? Maybe it is anger. Maybe it is unforgiveness. Maybe it is busyness. Is there something keeping you from walking closer to Jesus? Is there something keeping you from living closer to Jesus? Maybe it is sin. Maybe you are in awful sin.

Is there something keeping you today? Some stone that is blocking the entrance to a closer relationship with Jesus?

If so, again, let us realize we cannot roll all these stones away on our own. We need help from God. There is something today you need to ask God to help you with so you can draw closer to Jesus. It might be for salvation. It might be for fellowship.

What stone do you need to put away?

And listen, when you roll that stone away, you never know how God will work.

Those women, they never knew how God was going to work. They were going there to anoint Him. They were not going there expecting that He was alive. The men were not there because they just assumed He was dead because He had been dead. They did not anticipate He was going to be alive even though He told them. They were not even at the tomb because they were just sad and maybe fearful. The women were there to anoint Him. They brought spices. They were there for that reason and they were in tears and they wanted to draw closer to Jesus. But that stone got rolled away from the angel and man did they see God had worked. They heard the best news ever. The angel said, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here.”

That stone got rolled away and boy did they see God work.

And it is similar for us when we let God and we give God and ask God to help us with that thing that we need out of our life that is keeping us from Jesus. When we ask God, “Help me roll that stone away,” we never know how God is going to work.

When you let God roll that stone away, guys, God is going to… And I will say this much. I know this much without a shadow of a doubt. We let God pick that stone and roll it away and we are able to draw closer to Jesus, it is going to bless us.

I do not know how those blessings are going to come, but I know this: presence of God in a much greater way. When we get those stones that are keeping us from Jesus away, we get the stone of busyness away and we take time for Jesus. We get the stone of bitterness away and we are focused on Jesus. Jesus, author of our faith, we are going to draw closer to Jesus and we are going to feel His presence. And we know what it says: in His presence is fullness of joy.

You know, I just wanted to today as we close—and as I am encouraging you in this church, I am encouraging myself in this, too—let us ask God to help us roll those stones away.

Lord Jesus, God, thank You for Your Word and thank You how it can open up to us. And thank You today as we think about the beauty of the resurrection and we think about how You rolled the stone away. God, it is just such a great reminder to us that if we have got something in our life, some stone in our life, we want to ask You right now, help us roll it away. God, help me roll it away.

God, right now for the ones in this place today that they know they have got some stone in their life that they need rolled away, I just pray You supernaturally help them to roll that stone away.

And God, as we go into this time of invitation, this time of response, I pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to move through this place. I pray for response. I pray however one needs to respond, however You are leading them, that they would respond to You today.

God, I do pray if there is anybody in this place today that their response needs to be full surrender to You, Jesus, I pray they will respond to You today. And I pray they will walk forward, come forward so we can pray with them and we can celebrate that.

God, if there is a believer that has got a stone—busyness, unforgiveness, anxiety, whatever it is—God, I do not know. I just pray during this time of invitation, we are all able to talk to God and just give those to God and just ask You to just move through this place, fill up this altar, let people respond the way You are leading them.

We pray it all in Jesus’ name. Amen.