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 Do you believe in the resurrection? Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA Easter Sunday March 27, 2005 Main Scripture text: John 20:1-18. Although I responded to an invitation to come to Christ when I was 9 years old, it more than 25 years later before the Resurrection made any difference in my life. Then in 1980, all that changed and the Resurrection became central to my daily living. What happened to me is the same thing, I believe, that happened to the disciples. Once they understood the implications of the Resurrection, everything in their lives changed. In the days immediately after the crucifixion, they surely were filled with fear, despair, even anger. They One they though was the Messiah was dead. They had seen Jesus beaten, tortured, and crucified as a common criminal. They had believed in Him and trusted Him. Now, it had all ended in disaster and disgrace. Peter had a special problem. He had opened big mouth and said he would follow Jesus to death if need be. He had loved Jesus so, even if He was alive -- as Mary now claimed in John 20 -- things could never be same. He could never overcome the guilt. He could never look Jesus in the face again. Don Francisco's song, He's Alive, describes the first encounter between Peter and the risen Jesus. Suddenly the air was filled with strange and sweet perfume; light just came from everywhere, drove shadows from the room. Jesus stood before me with his arms held open wide, and I fell down on my knees and just clung to Him and cried. He raised me to my feet, and as I looked into his eyes, love was shining out from Him like sunlight from the skies. Guilt and my confusion disappeared in sweet release, and every fear I ever had just melted into peace. He's alive! He's alive! He's alive and I'm forgiven; Heaven's gates are open wide! With a few weeks, this same Peter -- the man who had denied Jesus -- would boldly stand before Sanhedrin and proclaim Him as Lord. Now, back to my own story. For two long and miserable years after the tragic death of my 8-year-old daughter, I lived in fear -- the fear which comes from viewing death as controlling life. To me, life had become a a meaningless exercise in futility, nothing more than a terminal disease to be endured until the bitter end. But thanks be to God, two yrs to the day after my daughter's death some one introduced me to the Jesus I had never really known -- not a dead man, but a risen Lord! I experienced living presence of Jesus, much the same as Peter. I began to live again! What made the difference? Surely, part of it was forgiveness, the lifting of my guilt and shame. But the key was experiencing the living presence of Jesus. The fact that He is alive offers us the power of the Resurrection. We no longer have to live in subjection to the fear of death and power of death. No longer did I simply think of the Resurrection as a historical fact. I now believed in it as a present and powerful reality. To believe something means to accept it as correct. To believe in something is different. It means we've committed ourselves to it, we've invested ourselves in it. We must be invested in the Resurrection power of the gospel, or it won't make much difference in our lives. Only when we've come to that place of investment can we know and experience the truth of the gospel: that death for God's children is not the end of life, but a dressing room where we take off mortality and put on immortality. Death has has lost its sting! Whatever tragedies life may have handed you, whatever fear, pain, anger, guilt, shame, frustration, distress or despair you bring with you to this Easter service, the power to overcome them is in this very room. God has made the same power that raised Jesus from the dead available to us, so that we might live a life that is abundant, full and free -- not because we don't have difficulties and pain, but because Jesus gives us power to overcome them. "Do you believe the Resurrection?" That's an important question. But an even more important one is, "Do you believe in the resurrection?" If you don't, you can start believing in it today and begin to know the power of God in your life, the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Supporting texts: Luke 24:10-11 | Luke 22:61-62 | Acts 4:18-20 | Exodus 20:18-21 | Ephesians 1:18-21 | Matthew 18:20 | Romans 5:17 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (32:00). (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 this sermon is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 050327a: Do You Believe in the Resurrection? © 2005 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us