Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Beyond the tomb: The reign of death is over Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA Easter Sunday April 11, 2004 NOTE: This sermon began with a brief video produced by Midnight Oil Productions. View a low-fi version here. Main Scripture text: John 20:1-18. In his book, Waking the Dead, John Eldredge quotes Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons in the Second Century: "The glory of God is Man fully alive." Jesus said He came to give us "life to its fullest measure." That's how it was in the pristine beauty of creation before sin made its ugly scar. Each day in the garden was a new experience of the wonder of creation, a new experience of what it meant to be alive. But then a tragic thing happened. Tricked by the serpent, Adam and Eve deliberately disobeyed God -- and human life was radically changed. They began to die; their days were numbered, time starting ticking away. Death had begun its reign. But centuries later, Jesus went into the grave and defeated death. He has declared it null and void! Remember what He said? "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" The resurrection is the central tenet of the Christian faith because death is the root of all human bondage. Jesus defeated death to liberate us from anything that keeps us from being "the glory of God... [humanity] fully alive!" Here's the bottom line: The reign of death is over! The tomb-stone has been rolled away! Now, we must get up, loose ourselves from it clutches, shake off the grave clothes, and walk away! To know the joy of our liberation, we must learn, as the songwriter said, "to dance on all those graves." We are beyond the tomb! Jesus is alive! Supporting texts: John 10:10 | Colossians 1:27 | Genesis 2:7-3:19 | John 11:24-26 | Romans 5:12-17 | Hebrews 2:14-15 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here. (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 040411a: Beyond the Tomb: The Reign of Death is Over. © 2004 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us