“Eyewitness”
Resurrection Sunday
March 23, 2008
I am an eyewitness.
My name was Simon, but the Master changed it to “Peter.”
My father’s name was Jonah, and he was a fisherman. And so, I was a fisherman, too, with my brother, Andrew, and our friends, James and John.
Until we met the Master.
One day, we were casting our nets into the sea of Galilee (Matthew 4), and the Master came upon us and said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
And, I’ll tell you, we dropped our nets right there and took up a new line of work.
We became disciples/students/followers of Jesus.
You’ve heard of Jesus, haven’t you? I know you have, I was listening to you sing about Him.
Well, I know Him personally.
I was an eyewitness to His life and ministry.
An eyewitness to His death and...resurrection!
I walked with Jesus on dusty roads.
I watched Him heal the sick and give sight to the blind.
I listened to Him teach about the Kingdom of Heaven.
There was nobody like Him. Nobody!
I remember when it first dawned on me who He really was.
We were in the region of Caesarea Philippi, and He asked us, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16).
We said, “Well, some say, John the Baptist (come back from the dead); others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
As I understand it, that’s what a lot of people think about Jesus in your time, too. That He’s just a good man sent from God, a prophet, a good teacher of morality.
But Jesus looked at me and said, “But what about you? Who do you say that I am?”
And it was just there! I said, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Son of the living God!”
And I was right!
The Master beamed a smile at me and He said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this “rock of your confession,” I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Wow! The Master renamed me “Rocky!” “Peter, the Rock!”
And I liked that because I’ve always thought that, “I rock!”
But as much as I thought I understood, I really didn’t have a clue! The rocks were in my head!
Because right then, the Master began to explain that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Well, I didn’t believe Him. I thought He must be wrong!
I grabbed Him and took Him aside and began to...rebuke Him!
“Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!”
Can I give you a piece of advice? Don’t ever say, “Never, Lord!” to Jesus. It’s NOT a good idea!
He had just called me, “Rock.” Now, He used another name!
He said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in the mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Yikes! That should teach me to rebuke Him! And it really made me think.
It was just a week after that when I saw...His glory!
The Master took James, John, and me up on a high mountain. And there, He was–I don’t know what to call it!–metamorphosized/changed/transfigured before us.
His face shone like the sun! And His clothes became as white as the light. You couldn’t look directly at Him!
And Moses (the lawgiver) and Elijah (the prince of the prophets) appeared with Him. They were saying that He was everything that they had been pointing to!
And I, well, I’ve got this disease called “foot-in-the-mouth disease.” I don’t always know what to say, but that doesn’t stop me from saying it!
I told the Lord that I would put up some tents for everybody, I was so excited!
And then God interrupted me! He spoke from Heaven–and He said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
I was so scared, I thought I was going to die!
But Jesus touched me and said, “Don’t be afraid.” And when I looked up, there was noone else there, except Jesus.
I am an eyewitness.
In the second letter that I wrote...You have read it, haven’t you? You call it “2nd Peter,” I think.
In that letter I wrote, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.”
I am an eyewitness. I saw it with my own eyes!
But that’s NOT the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!
No, that came later.
We had been with the Master for almost three years. We had seen a lot!
Now, it seemed like things were coming to a head.
Our Lord had been in constant trouble with the authorities. They didn’t like anything He said. And they were worried about His power.
And I didn’t know it then, but one of our circle of Twelve was a traitor. Judas Iscariot. It makes me sick just to think of him (Matthew 26).
He had gone to the chief priests and asked them what they would be willing to pay him to hand the Master over to them. It turned out that Judas valued Jesus at just 30 silver coins.
It was Passover week, and we had arrived in Jerusalem and found our way to an upper room.
The Master seemed more troubled than usual. And that made us troubled.
He taught us many things that night, things I didn’t really understand until much later.
And He broke bread saying it was His body.
And He poured out wine saying it was His blood.
I didn’t know what He meant.
And then He said something to me that I’ll never forget (Luke 22).
He said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Oh, I didn’t like the sound of that.
I’m glad that the Master had prayed for me.
But “sifting like wheat” by Satan?
And “after you turn back?” I’m not going anywhere!
So, I did it again. I told the Lord that He didn’t know what He was talking about!
I said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” And I meant it.
But He knew better. He said, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
It’s all blur now, and yet, I remember every detail.
We went up to the Mount of Olives to a garden called Gethsemane.
And the Master was overwhelmed with sorrow and prayed desperately to His Heavenly Father about some “cup” that He was going to have to drink.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I kept falling asleep. I’d never seen the Master so upset, and yet, I couldn’t bring myself to even pray for an hour.
And then, a long line of torches came winding up the mountainside from the city.
And there was Judas.
He came right up to the Master and kissed Him on the cheek.
It was obvious what was going on!
And I was furious!
I grabbed a sword and swung at one of His enemies.
I wanted to chop off his head, but all I got was an ear.
And then...they grabbed Him.
Every other time they had tried to grab Him, they couldn’t hold onto Him.
But now, they grabbed Him, and they led Him away!
And I lost it. I took off running.
I ran away from Jesus!
But I couldn’t stay away. I had to see what happened to Him.
I followed a distance. They took Him to the house of the high priest.
And that’s where I denied Him.
I was in the courtyard warming my hands. And a servant girl saw me there in the firelight. She looked at me too closely knew who I was.
She said, “This man was with him.”
And that was my chance to do what I said I would do.
To be a fisher of men.
To tell people that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
To be an eyewitness of the Majestic Glory I had seen on the mount of transfiguration.
To keep my word and go with Him to prison and death.
But instead, I said, “Woman, I don’t know him.”
And then a little later, someone else saw me and said, “You also are one of them!”
“Man, I am not!” I lied.
Another hour later, another one took notice of my Galilean accent and accused me of being a follower of Jesus.
So I let out a string of curse words that I can’t repeat here.
And I said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
And then, the rooster crowed.
And the Master...turned and looked straight at me.
And all I could do was go outside and weep bitterly.
My tears felt like acid on my cheeks.
I had denied that I even knew Jesus!
I think you know what happened next.
They put Jesus on trial–He Who should have tried them!
And then they tortured Him–He Who never did anything wrong.
And then they killed Him.
He hung on a Cross–the worst kind of death imaginable in every way.
It was the darkest, worst day of my life–no, the darkest, worst day there ever was.
And I was an eyewitness.
After they buried the Master, the other disciples and I, minus Judas who had committed suicide over his treachery, the other disciples and I tried to lay low.
The rest of Friday passed.
Saturday went by.
And then, Sunday!
There was a banging on the door of the place where John and I were hiding (John 20).
It was Mary Magdalene.
She said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!”
John and I took off running together, but he beat me there.
He looked in the tomb, but didn’t go in.
Then I came up behind him and went right in.
There were the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.
And John came in behind me, and he believed that something miraculous had happened.
I didn’t know what to believe.
I am an eyewitness. But I didn’t know what to make of what I saw.
His body wasn’t there. But where was it?
I found out that night!
We had all huddled back together again with the doors locked for fear of the Jews and, the Lord Jesus...appeared and stood before us and said, “Peace be with you!”
And it was Him!
He was alive!
He showed us His hands, where the nails had gone in.
He showed us His side, where the spear had pierced His flesh!
And I was overjoyed!
I had seen the Lord!
He is alive! I’m an eyewitness. I saw Him with my own two eyes. He’s alive!
THAT is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!
He didn’t stay with us then, but He appeared to us many times over the next several weeks–each time, convincing us that what we saw was real.
One time, I had gone North to go fishing again.
My father, Jonah was a fisherman, and I had been a fisherman, so I thought maybe I’d be a fisherman again.
Even though Jesus was alive, I wasn’t sure that He wanted anything to do with me.
Because I had denied Him three times.
We were out in the boat that night. And we hadn’t caught anything. Do you know how that feels? Miserable.
It was getting on about morning, and I saw someone standing on the shore. He had a fire going and something cooking on it.
He called out to us, “Friends, haven’t you any fish.”
No.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” And when we did that, we couldn’t haul the net in for all the fish!
John was with me, and he said, “It’s the Lord!”
And I just jumped out of the boat and swam towards Him.
Yes, it is the Lord!
Oh, what a feeling that was!
And we had breakfast on the beach with Him.
And then, He broke my heart.
He asked me if I loved Him.
Did I love Him?
I thought I did. I had tried to, but I hadn’t been very good at it.
I had failed Him again and again and again.
I had denied Him three times.
I said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
And He asked me that question three times.
And each time, He accepted my answer. He was forgiving me.
He was reinstating me. Each time, He told me to feed His sheep. He was giving me a new job to do. To shepherd God’s people.
Not just to be a fisher for men, but also a shepherd.
And then He told me that I was going to die for Him.
He said, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go...Follow me!”
I am an eyewitness to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And I had to be willing to die for it.
And I did.
Thirty years later, I was a witness in Rome boldly telling people about Jesus and His resurrection.
And the Roman emperor thought it would be a good idea to crucify me for witnessing about Jesus.
And I refused to be crucified like my Lord.
I asked if I could be crucified upside down because I am so unworthy even to die like Jesus died.
There are people today in your world who say that Jesus never rose from the dead.
That it was just a story.
But I am an eyewitness who was willing to die for the Truth.
All I had to do was to admit that it was just a story, and I could have gone free!
But I am an eyewitness.
Jesus is not still dead. He’s alive!
And it’s worth dying to share that good news!
I’d like to give you two suggestions for how to respond to my testimony.
#1. BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
Do you believe my eyewitness testimony?
It’s written in your Scriptures for you to read and to understand and to trust.
When you believe in the good news of the resurrection, something amazing happens inside of you.
It’s called “new birth” and it’s awesome!
You’ve heard about it in the lives of Charlene and Mark.
I wrote about it in my first letter: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!”
Isn’t that awesome!
New birth into a living hope!
That’s what the resurrection does in our hearts and lives.
Praise God for that!
Do you believe it?
You see there was something mysterious happening when Jesus died on that Cross.
I’ve said this about it: “He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
All the times that I failed Him–He paid for them with His wounds.
All of the time that you have sinned–He bore those sins in His body on the tree.
So that you don’t have to pay for them.
And now that He’s alive, every debt has been forgiven, and He gives us new birth into a living hope!
Our part is to believe.
To turn from our sins and trust in Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross.
And that He is no longer dead, but risen and giving us new hope.
If you are a leader in this church who knows and believes the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, would you please stand?
If you are not yet a full believer in Jesus, I encourage you to seek out one of these people, maybe today!, and talk with them about what it means.
They stand ready to pray with you and help you to begin a new life of faith in Jesus Christ, new birth into a living hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
And here’s the other response, one for everyone here.
#2. BE A GOOD WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
I am an eyewitness. I saw Jesus alive again with my own two eyes.
You aren’t an eyewitness like that.
But you do know what Jesus has done in your life. And you can witness to that.
I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Charlene and Mark to get up here and tell their stories.
But they were being faithful to witness to God’s work in their lives.
Where can you be a witness?
Who can you tell?
Jesus is alive, and the world needs to hear it.
It’s going to be hard.
But what’s the worst that can happen to you?
No, wait; I’ll tell you. You might be crucified upside down.
But He’s worth it! Friends, He’s worth it!
Take it from me.
I’m Peter, and I’m an eyewitness to His resurrection.
Resurrection Sunday
March 23, 2008
I am an eyewitness.
My name was Simon, but the Master changed it to “Peter.”
My father’s name was Jonah, and he was a fisherman. And so, I was a fisherman, too, with my brother, Andrew, and our friends, James and John.
Until we met the Master.
One day, we were casting our nets into the sea of Galilee (Matthew 4), and the Master came upon us and said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
And, I’ll tell you, we dropped our nets right there and took up a new line of work.
We became disciples/students/followers of Jesus.
You’ve heard of Jesus, haven’t you? I know you have, I was listening to you sing about Him.
Well, I know Him personally.
I was an eyewitness to His life and ministry.
An eyewitness to His death and...resurrection!
I walked with Jesus on dusty roads.
I watched Him heal the sick and give sight to the blind.
I listened to Him teach about the Kingdom of Heaven.
There was nobody like Him. Nobody!
I remember when it first dawned on me who He really was.
We were in the region of Caesarea Philippi, and He asked us, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16).
We said, “Well, some say, John the Baptist (come back from the dead); others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
As I understand it, that’s what a lot of people think about Jesus in your time, too. That He’s just a good man sent from God, a prophet, a good teacher of morality.
But Jesus looked at me and said, “But what about you? Who do you say that I am?”
And it was just there! I said, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Son of the living God!”
And I was right!
The Master beamed a smile at me and He said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this “rock of your confession,” I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Wow! The Master renamed me “Rocky!” “Peter, the Rock!”
And I liked that because I’ve always thought that, “I rock!”
But as much as I thought I understood, I really didn’t have a clue! The rocks were in my head!
Because right then, the Master began to explain that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Well, I didn’t believe Him. I thought He must be wrong!
I grabbed Him and took Him aside and began to...rebuke Him!
“Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!”
Can I give you a piece of advice? Don’t ever say, “Never, Lord!” to Jesus. It’s NOT a good idea!
He had just called me, “Rock.” Now, He used another name!
He said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in the mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Yikes! That should teach me to rebuke Him! And it really made me think.
It was just a week after that when I saw...His glory!
The Master took James, John, and me up on a high mountain. And there, He was–I don’t know what to call it!–metamorphosized/changed/transfigured before us.
His face shone like the sun! And His clothes became as white as the light. You couldn’t look directly at Him!
And Moses (the lawgiver) and Elijah (the prince of the prophets) appeared with Him. They were saying that He was everything that they had been pointing to!
And I, well, I’ve got this disease called “foot-in-the-mouth disease.” I don’t always know what to say, but that doesn’t stop me from saying it!
I told the Lord that I would put up some tents for everybody, I was so excited!
And then God interrupted me! He spoke from Heaven–and He said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
I was so scared, I thought I was going to die!
But Jesus touched me and said, “Don’t be afraid.” And when I looked up, there was noone else there, except Jesus.
I am an eyewitness.
In the second letter that I wrote...You have read it, haven’t you? You call it “2nd Peter,” I think.
In that letter I wrote, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.”
I am an eyewitness. I saw it with my own eyes!
But that’s NOT the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!
No, that came later.
We had been with the Master for almost three years. We had seen a lot!
Now, it seemed like things were coming to a head.
Our Lord had been in constant trouble with the authorities. They didn’t like anything He said. And they were worried about His power.
And I didn’t know it then, but one of our circle of Twelve was a traitor. Judas Iscariot. It makes me sick just to think of him (Matthew 26).
He had gone to the chief priests and asked them what they would be willing to pay him to hand the Master over to them. It turned out that Judas valued Jesus at just 30 silver coins.
It was Passover week, and we had arrived in Jerusalem and found our way to an upper room.
The Master seemed more troubled than usual. And that made us troubled.
He taught us many things that night, things I didn’t really understand until much later.
And He broke bread saying it was His body.
And He poured out wine saying it was His blood.
I didn’t know what He meant.
And then He said something to me that I’ll never forget (Luke 22).
He said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Oh, I didn’t like the sound of that.
I’m glad that the Master had prayed for me.
But “sifting like wheat” by Satan?
And “after you turn back?” I’m not going anywhere!
So, I did it again. I told the Lord that He didn’t know what He was talking about!
I said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” And I meant it.
But He knew better. He said, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
It’s all blur now, and yet, I remember every detail.
We went up to the Mount of Olives to a garden called Gethsemane.
And the Master was overwhelmed with sorrow and prayed desperately to His Heavenly Father about some “cup” that He was going to have to drink.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I kept falling asleep. I’d never seen the Master so upset, and yet, I couldn’t bring myself to even pray for an hour.
And then, a long line of torches came winding up the mountainside from the city.
And there was Judas.
He came right up to the Master and kissed Him on the cheek.
It was obvious what was going on!
And I was furious!
I grabbed a sword and swung at one of His enemies.
I wanted to chop off his head, but all I got was an ear.
And then...they grabbed Him.
Every other time they had tried to grab Him, they couldn’t hold onto Him.
But now, they grabbed Him, and they led Him away!
And I lost it. I took off running.
I ran away from Jesus!
But I couldn’t stay away. I had to see what happened to Him.
I followed a distance. They took Him to the house of the high priest.
And that’s where I denied Him.
I was in the courtyard warming my hands. And a servant girl saw me there in the firelight. She looked at me too closely knew who I was.
She said, “This man was with him.”
And that was my chance to do what I said I would do.
To be a fisher of men.
To tell people that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
To be an eyewitness of the Majestic Glory I had seen on the mount of transfiguration.
To keep my word and go with Him to prison and death.
But instead, I said, “Woman, I don’t know him.”
And then a little later, someone else saw me and said, “You also are one of them!”
“Man, I am not!” I lied.
Another hour later, another one took notice of my Galilean accent and accused me of being a follower of Jesus.
So I let out a string of curse words that I can’t repeat here.
And I said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
And then, the rooster crowed.
And the Master...turned and looked straight at me.
And all I could do was go outside and weep bitterly.
My tears felt like acid on my cheeks.
I had denied that I even knew Jesus!
I think you know what happened next.
They put Jesus on trial–He Who should have tried them!
And then they tortured Him–He Who never did anything wrong.
And then they killed Him.
He hung on a Cross–the worst kind of death imaginable in every way.
It was the darkest, worst day of my life–no, the darkest, worst day there ever was.
And I was an eyewitness.
After they buried the Master, the other disciples and I, minus Judas who had committed suicide over his treachery, the other disciples and I tried to lay low.
The rest of Friday passed.
Saturday went by.
And then, Sunday!
There was a banging on the door of the place where John and I were hiding (John 20).
It was Mary Magdalene.
She said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!”
John and I took off running together, but he beat me there.
He looked in the tomb, but didn’t go in.
Then I came up behind him and went right in.
There were the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.
And John came in behind me, and he believed that something miraculous had happened.
I didn’t know what to believe.
I am an eyewitness. But I didn’t know what to make of what I saw.
His body wasn’t there. But where was it?
I found out that night!
We had all huddled back together again with the doors locked for fear of the Jews and, the Lord Jesus...appeared and stood before us and said, “Peace be with you!”
And it was Him!
He was alive!
He showed us His hands, where the nails had gone in.
He showed us His side, where the spear had pierced His flesh!
And I was overjoyed!
I had seen the Lord!
He is alive! I’m an eyewitness. I saw Him with my own two eyes. He’s alive!
THAT is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!
He didn’t stay with us then, but He appeared to us many times over the next several weeks–each time, convincing us that what we saw was real.
One time, I had gone North to go fishing again.
My father, Jonah was a fisherman, and I had been a fisherman, so I thought maybe I’d be a fisherman again.
Even though Jesus was alive, I wasn’t sure that He wanted anything to do with me.
Because I had denied Him three times.
We were out in the boat that night. And we hadn’t caught anything. Do you know how that feels? Miserable.
It was getting on about morning, and I saw someone standing on the shore. He had a fire going and something cooking on it.
He called out to us, “Friends, haven’t you any fish.”
No.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” And when we did that, we couldn’t haul the net in for all the fish!
John was with me, and he said, “It’s the Lord!”
And I just jumped out of the boat and swam towards Him.
Yes, it is the Lord!
Oh, what a feeling that was!
And we had breakfast on the beach with Him.
And then, He broke my heart.
He asked me if I loved Him.
Did I love Him?
I thought I did. I had tried to, but I hadn’t been very good at it.
I had failed Him again and again and again.
I had denied Him three times.
I said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
And He asked me that question three times.
And each time, He accepted my answer. He was forgiving me.
He was reinstating me. Each time, He told me to feed His sheep. He was giving me a new job to do. To shepherd God’s people.
Not just to be a fisher for men, but also a shepherd.
And then He told me that I was going to die for Him.
He said, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go...Follow me!”
I am an eyewitness to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And I had to be willing to die for it.
And I did.
Thirty years later, I was a witness in Rome boldly telling people about Jesus and His resurrection.
And the Roman emperor thought it would be a good idea to crucify me for witnessing about Jesus.
And I refused to be crucified like my Lord.
I asked if I could be crucified upside down because I am so unworthy even to die like Jesus died.
There are people today in your world who say that Jesus never rose from the dead.
That it was just a story.
But I am an eyewitness who was willing to die for the Truth.
All I had to do was to admit that it was just a story, and I could have gone free!
But I am an eyewitness.
Jesus is not still dead. He’s alive!
And it’s worth dying to share that good news!
I’d like to give you two suggestions for how to respond to my testimony.
#1. BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
Do you believe my eyewitness testimony?
It’s written in your Scriptures for you to read and to understand and to trust.
When you believe in the good news of the resurrection, something amazing happens inside of you.
It’s called “new birth” and it’s awesome!
You’ve heard about it in the lives of Charlene and Mark.
I wrote about it in my first letter: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!”
Isn’t that awesome!
New birth into a living hope!
That’s what the resurrection does in our hearts and lives.
Praise God for that!
Do you believe it?
You see there was something mysterious happening when Jesus died on that Cross.
I’ve said this about it: “He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
All the times that I failed Him–He paid for them with His wounds.
All of the time that you have sinned–He bore those sins in His body on the tree.
So that you don’t have to pay for them.
And now that He’s alive, every debt has been forgiven, and He gives us new birth into a living hope!
Our part is to believe.
To turn from our sins and trust in Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross.
And that He is no longer dead, but risen and giving us new hope.
If you are a leader in this church who knows and believes the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, would you please stand?
If you are not yet a full believer in Jesus, I encourage you to seek out one of these people, maybe today!, and talk with them about what it means.
They stand ready to pray with you and help you to begin a new life of faith in Jesus Christ, new birth into a living hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
And here’s the other response, one for everyone here.
#2. BE A GOOD WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
I am an eyewitness. I saw Jesus alive again with my own two eyes.
You aren’t an eyewitness like that.
But you do know what Jesus has done in your life. And you can witness to that.
I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Charlene and Mark to get up here and tell their stories.
But they were being faithful to witness to God’s work in their lives.
Where can you be a witness?
Who can you tell?
Jesus is alive, and the world needs to hear it.
It’s going to be hard.
But what’s the worst that can happen to you?
No, wait; I’ll tell you. You might be crucified upside down.
But He’s worth it! Friends, He’s worth it!
Take it from me.
I’m Peter, and I’m an eyewitness to His resurrection.
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