Resurrection Everyday

Title: Resurrection Power Every Day!

Intro and Application: Someday, you may face fear, worry, heartbreak, depression, disappointment, and discouragement! You may be tempted to lock the doors of your heart and your home and hide. Today, I would challenge you to invite Jesus into your cave, your tomb, what looks like your grave….and just give Jesus 3 days. Spend three days conscious of Him, listening for Him, speaking to Him, and see your resurrection! 

Text: John 20:19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

They were sheltering in place, doing the only thing that felt safe: staying home. In just a few days, their entire world had been upended. Life as they knew it was gone, replaced by uncertainty where there had once been stability. The events they had witnessed were almost impossible to process—devastating, frightening, and filled with loss. Death seemed everywhere, and they knew their own safety was in jeopardy. In their confusion and fear, they retreated to the one place that offered any comfort: a familiar home, where they could close the door on the chaos outside.

• Does any of this sound familiar to you?

• Have you ever found yourself in a similar place?

• I know I have, more than once.

Here’s the hope: this is also the story of Easter.
On that first Easter, Jesus’ followers were huddled together, hidden away at home.

And who could blame them? The week leading up to this moment had been a whirlwind. They had entered Jerusalem with Jesus, surrounded by crowds shouting praise as he rode in on a donkey. But in just a few days, everything changed. Their friend and teacher was arrested, beaten, and crucified. The one they had given up everything to follow was gone, and now their own lives were at risk simply because they had known him. Overwhelmed and afraid, they did the only thing that made sense: they stayed behind locked doors in the upper room.

There’s comfort in realizing that the uncertainty and fear we sometimes feel are not new in God’s story. Like those disciples on the first Easter morning, we may find ourselves facing anxiety, loss, and doubt. Yet, just as it happened for them, we too can encounter the living Christ in the midst of our uncertainty.

While the disciples were gathered in that home, John’s Gospel tells us, “with the doors locked for fear… Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”

This is part of the Easter story: for three days, most of the disciples stayed together, seeking shelter in someone’s home.

John’s Gospel puts it simply: “The disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear.”

This home is traditionally known as The Upper Room: A place of two mountain tops! The Upper Room was not only the place of the Last Supper, but it was also where the disciples prepared themselves to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2).

But something happened here in between those two mountain top events. 

The Upper Room: Also a place for a double valley:  Discouragement, disappointment, and depression!

• John 20:19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 

• John 20:26 A week later, his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

The Bible is a story of three-day resurrection power breaking life out of locked-in places!

• His resurrection power is told Third Day of Creation: God creates dry land and the first life the Earth had ever seen, vegetation, on the third day.

  • Jesus’ Resurrection: Jesus rises from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion

• His resurrection power is told in the story of Isaac’s Near-Sacrifice

  • Genesis 22: Though not a literal resurrection, Abraham’s belief that God could raise Isaac (Hebrews 11:19), 

  • In the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac after three days of travel

  • Abraham prophesied by faith to his servant. “The Boy and I shall return!” 

  • Isaac carried the wood up Mt Moriah, 

  • So did Jesus with the cross. 

• His resurrection is seen in Joseph’s story from the pit (Genesis 37, 41

  • He was placed in a pit, and so was Jesus

  • His bloody coat was taken to the father to validate his death, just as Jesus was stripped of his bloody garments

  • His brother was sold as a slave for silver, so was Jesus by Judas

  • Later named Savior of the World by Pharaoh, Jesus is named the same

  • His brothers were kept in custody for three days

  • Then Joseph appeared to them with gifts to give them life during a famine. 

• His resurrection power is seen in the three days of Darkness in Egypt (Exodus 10:21-23)

  • Outcome: Pharaoh’s resistance broken, leading to Israel’s exodus.

• His resurrection power is seen in Rahab and the Spies (Joshua 2:16, 22)

  • Three Days: Spies hide in the mountains before returning..

  • Outcome: Israel’s victory at Jericho.

  • Symbolism: Faith leading to salvation, like Christ’s refuge for believers (Hebrews 6:18)

• And what of Esther’s Intercession (Esther 4:16-5:1)

  • Three Days: Esther fasts before approaching the king.

  • Outcome: Salvation for the Jews.

• His resurrection power is seen in the story of Jonah

  • Jesus stated that His resurrection story would be the sign of Jonah (Jonah 1:17, 2:10): 

  • Spent three days/nights in the fish, foreshadowing Christ’s resurrection (Matthew 12:40)

  • Later, he leaped from the fish and showed himself to 120,000 Ninevites who repented and were saved. 

• The resurrection story is prefigured in Jesus being found in the Temple (Luke 2:46)

  • Three Days: Mary and Joseph search before finding Jesus.

  • Luke 2:46 After three days, they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

    • Give him 3 days to be seated in your heart to listen to you and ask you questions… 

  • They find Jesus, and he said to them, “I must be about my Father’s business!” Luke 2:49 – His first recorded words, 

  • His last words are “ It is finished!” John 19:30

• He prophesied what His resurrection power can do in just 3 days! 

  • Jesus’ Temple Prophecy John 2:19-21

  • Three Days: Jesus’ body as the temple was raised.

  • Fulfillment: Resurrection on the third day.

• His resurrection power begins first in our hearts and then in our world!

  • But in three days, He is resurrecting all creation! 

  • 2 Peter 3:8 Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

    • It has almost been 2 days since the cross

    • Soon, Christ will return

    • And the third day will be the millennial reign! 

    • After three days on God’s calendar, there will be a new heaven and a new Earth! Revelation 21:1-5 

His resurrection power is waiting to be fully known in YOU! 

What would happen if you gave God just three days inside of your thoughts and mind? 

• What would happen to your fear, worry, and bitterness? 

• What would happen to your hopelessness? 

• What would happen if you allowed Jesus into your grave and into the tomb of your emotional pain? 

• What would happen if you let Jesus be placed in your grave of disappointment, depression, and dying dreams? 

This is what Joseph of Arimathea did. He lent His tomb to Jesus for three days.

• On Resurrection Day, Joseph of Arimathea got his tomb back and Christ-followers got the living Jesus back, to be with them forever.

When the stone is rolled away from your heart, you can get mad because it’s exposed, or step aside and let the living Jesus move in. 

• The empty tomb illustrates that the rocks that have pinned you down will indeed roll away if you let Jesus live within you. 

• It shouts that your heart will never be empty. 

• Jesus rose to free you from self-enclosure, a lifetime of solitary confinement.

Many vegetable seeds can be buried, and then they can live and grow again. 

• Perhaps our end is germination, not termination.

• In the case of some vegetables, germination can take just three days!

That ancient tomb’s purpose was aborted. 

• It failed to hold its resident, Jesus Christ, captive to death. 

• Why not lend Jesus your tomb? Hy not allow him to enter the darkest place of your heart? 

Too many people believe that He is risen, but live as if He is dead. 

• You have not given Jesus your tomb, you have not allowed him into your darkest places of the heart, yet. 

• Give him three days there! When you do, you will know from experience that Christ’s tomb is empty because you will continually experience His presence.

• You will live risen with HIM! 

We humans exit life for the tomb. 

• Jesus exited the tomb to bring us back to life. 

• God didn’t create us to be dead. 

The Power of the Resurrection

1. The power of the Resurrection of Christ in you is the power to let go of your past fully. 

• Many people remain trapped in their history,

• Burdened by grief, guilt, grudges, 

• Habits, hurts, and hang-ups. 

  • You cannot fully embrace the present when you’re stuck in the past. 

• Etch A Sketch! This power is also the power of the do-over! 

• It’s not just a second chance; it’s a new identity, a transformed existence grounded in grace.

2. Beyond a new beginning, the Resurrection grants the power to keep going.

• When exhaustion sets in and motivation falters, divine strength sustains you. 

• It fuels perseverance when human willpower runs dry, ensuring you don’t quit before crossing the finish line.

3. Most critically, the Resurrection is the power to permanently change your life. 

   • Human willpower alone is fleeting—it might last weeks or months, but it cannot break deep-rooted cycles of destructive behavior. 

   • True transformation requires more than self-discipline; it demands divine intervention. 

   • The Resurrection infuses you with God’s power, enabling you to overcome patterns you could never conquer alone. This isn’t merely improvement—it’s resurrection: replacing old struggles with new life.

Angels rolled away the stone, not to let Jesus out but to let us see that He was no longer there.

God still moves stones! 

Give God three days to remove your stony heart. 

• He can change your world by starting with you from the inside out! 

• The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead wants to live in you!

• Give him three days! He rolls the stone from your heart and mind! 

And if you find a change in your heart and mind, then why stop? 

• Why not continue living like JESUS IS ALIVE IN YOU every day? 

• What do you have to lose? Since you have everything to gain! 

Your Father is too powerful to fail, your Father is too good to do bad. 

Your Father is too wise to make a mistake, your Father loves you too much ever to hurt you.